Under One Roof
by chiharu-tanaka
Summary: Risa, 25, gets a job as Satoshi's secretary, ends up living in his house and to make things even worse, they don't remember each other! What happens when the two are stuck under one roof? SatoRisa COMPLETE
1. Premises, and A New Roomie

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

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A/n: Thanks so much to my friend Ryoki-chan for letting me use her idea!

Disclaimer: I do not own D.N.Angel whatsoever…

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Chapter One: Premises, and A New Roomie

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The soft pouring sound appeared at a lonely kitchen that rainy afternoon. The sound of rain hitting against the roof and falling onto the ground was deafening, yet bearable.

Dim lights gave radiance throughout the empty office. It was a shabby looking one too. The tables were dull grey, medium-sized, and arranged properly to form cubicles. Most of the worktables were filled with yellow slips of paper, a few stacks of paperwork, some old Pentium III running computers and pictures stuck onto the cubicle wall with thumbtacks.

The silence was broken when a young man, no older than 25, stepped out of the kitchen with a glass of warm water. His state-of-the-art frameless glasses hung casually on the bridge of his nose. His cold, meticulous cerulean eyes darted around the surroundings in the office. Slowly, he lazily raked his gentle sky blue hair and proceeded to his office with a yawn.

He walked over to the table; his table, that stood dully at one end of the room. On the table was more paperwork, his plasma-screen black desktop and his silver laptop. A phone was between the two computers. He set the glass on his table and sat down on his chair.

'Brigade Commander: Satoshi Hiwatari,' were the words on the little sign on his table. The young commander, Satoshi, looked outside at the open window, uncovered by blinds. Raindrops were stuck against the smooth surface.

"Pfft," he snorted, before taking out a couple of pink and white pills from his drawer. They tasted bitter, but that wasn't much of an obstacle. He popped them into his mouth and washed his frustration down with the water. The medicine showed its effectiveness a few minutes later, as he sighed with relief and massaged his temples gently.

He picked up a sheet of newspaper in front of him. He observed the red circle on one ad for a job that he circled earlier.

Position Open for Secretary

Qualifications: Diploma in Secretariat, experience in accounting and typewriting

Pay: Start with $ 3500 per month

Apply to: Investigation Department, Azumano Police Headquarters, Azumano City.

It was 3 days after he had posted that ad in the newspaper. Three long days of waiting. No one was answering his ad.

'I guess the unemployment rate in Azumano wasn't as high as I thought…' he pondered.

A striking flash of lightning soared across the sky, followed by roaring thunder a few seconds later. Satoshi did not even flinch. He look upwards to a clock and the time showed: 5:17 p.m.

The other workers had left more than seventeen minutes earlier. 'Those lazy asses…but that's what dad pays them for…' he thought groggily, pulling off the plug to his desktop. He walked over to the window and pulled down the blinds. He then packed his laptop into a bag and placed it on a couch nearby. He later put on his raincoat and picked up his bag and umbrella before deciding to leave the office.

Just as he was about to open the door, he heard footsteps outside. Thinking it was someone who left something in the office, he just swung open the door.

"Ahh!"

The scream of fright made Satoshi jolt up in alert. He came face-to-face with a young lady, right about his age. Her honey brown hair, pink blouse and navy denim skirt were partly drenched with rainwater. Her gentle golden eyes looked up pleadingly at him.

"I…I'm sorry," she stammered. "I'm here for the job…but it seems I've come at a…bad time…"

He just stood there, blinking slowly as he observed the young woman. After a few moments of thinking, he opened his mouth.

"Come in."

He led her inside his office and turned on the lights. He set his laptop bag and umbrella aside on the couch and took off his raincoat and draped it on the coat hanger.

He walked over to his table and sat down. "Please…have a seat."

The young miss nodded bashfully and sat down politely, clutching a plastic folder in her arms. She set it on the table and opened it and handed the papers inside to Satoshi.

Satoshi took the paper and darted his eyes over her resume. He then flipped the papers to look at a photo stated copy of her diplomas.

"Impressive…Miss Harada. You're hired."

Her bashful expression turned happy as a bright smile formed on her lips. "Oh, thank you, sir! I won't let you down!" she exclaimed happily.

As he arranged the papers back together, he just looked at her with a poker-faced expression. "You may start tomorrow, at eight. Your desk is outside. I will give you further instructions in the morning."

She beamed at him despite his cold demeanour and stood up. "Thank you, sir," she said, before taking her plastic folder, bowing and turned her heel to leave the office.

As he heard the door of the office outside shut close, he looked at her resume once again. 'Risa Harada…why does that sound familiar…?'

* * *

As he finally left the office ten minutes after young Risa had left, he walked over to the parking lot where his car was. He hopped right in and drove off for home. He reached his apartment fifteen minutes later.

He walked over to his apartment lot and opened the door with his keys. He tossed the keys onto the table and took off his raincoat. He took off his shoes and walked over to his room, where he left his bag.

He then walked back outside and noticed something. A few things from his apartment were missing. He walked into the living room area and found a yellow note over a spare set of keys and an envelope.

_Hey, Hiwatari!_

_Thanks for letting me stay at your place for these past 2 months. You've been a great host. I have the rent inside the envelope. If you're wondering where I am now, I'm moving to my fiancée's apartment. Oh, and don't worry – I'll replace me soon._

_- Takeshi Saehara_

A confused eyebrow arched upwards. 'What does he mean by…_I'll replace me soon_?' he thought. Still, he pocketed the keys and envelope and threw the note into the bin. He shut himself inside his room again to change into more casual wear and emerged in a black long-sleeved shirt and khaki slacks.

He sat down on the sofa in the living room and turned on the television to hear the news. The weather man was informing the citizens of Azumano that there will be more rain in the next few days.

"Bloody shit," cursed Satoshi. "As if we didn't know that, asshole."

The news anchor woman was just mentioning about a terrorist bomb attack in Madrid when the doorbell rang. "Damn," he cursed again. 'Don't tell me Saehara forgot something? The idiot…'

He walked over to the door and swung it open harshly. His eyes shot wide open when he looked down upon his unexpected guest.

"Harada-san?"

"Sir! I'm…so sorry to interrupt you…"

"It's okay…what…are you doing here?"

"Ano…a guy called Saehara said there was a room in lot…89."

Reality hit Satoshi smack in the face. 'So…that's what he meant…bastard…' he cursed indignantly in his train of thoughts. His eyelids lowered slightly as he looked at Risa, drenched and covered with a damp denim jacket. She had a trolley bag with her – obviously showing that she was not from Azumano.

"…come in," he said finally.

Her little footsteps led her into the apartment, where she took off her pumps and walked onto the carpeted floor. The apartment itself was mainly painted with pastel colours, and the furniture was modern and non-obsolete.

"So…when did you contact Saehara?" asked Satoshi abruptly. He had never invited women to his house, that's for sure.

"Urm…yesterday afternoon…when I was still in Fukuoka…"

Silence filled the warm, dry air inside the house. "I see. Have a seat while I make you some hot chocolate," was Satoshi's brisk reply.

"Thank you…sir…"

She walked towards the living room where she took a seat on one of the sofas. Satoshi, on the other hand, was in the kitchen. As he waited for the water to boil, he flipped open his phone and dialled Saehara's number.

"Yo! Takeshi speakin'!"

"What is the meaning of this?" yelled Satoshi in rage, just loud enough not to reach Risa's ears.

"Oh, I see you have met Harada-imouto, yes? Isn't she _spicy_?"

"Explain, Saehara. NOW."

"Okay, okay! Don't get so touchy, Mr. Commander. Harada-imouto was looking for a job, so she called me up…I don't know how she got my number. Anyway, since I was moving, I thought she could stay at your place. It's not wrong, right?"

"Wrong, Saehara. I want you to fix this. NOW."

"Aw, c'mon – Hiwatari! Don't you pity her? I mean, the only available apartments here in Azumano is associated with gangs and mafias!"

"Saehara – I warn you…"

"Okay, okay. I'll find one safe enough for her, okay? Just let her stay at LEAST until next Thursday, okay?"

"You'd better, or I'll tell your fiancée about the porn magazines you keep under your bed."

"Okay…now you're scaring me. Oh – darling's calling. It's dinnertime. Ciao!"

"Wait –"

Before Satoshi could say another word, the line went dead. "Damnit…" he cursed again. He turned off the switch to the electric kettle and poured warm water over the cup with hot chocolate mix inside it.

"Here," he said, setting the cup onto the glass coffee table. He sat down across her and observed her carefully.

She bowed down slightly. "Thank you, sir." She picked up the cup and slowly gulped down more than half of its contents.

"Well, I've called…Saehara…and to make one thing clear, since this is **my** apartment, I'm not opening any rooms for rent."

In a split second, a hurtful look was spread all across her face. Her eyes were rimmed with tears, and her nose, cheeks and ears were getting pink.

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

Satoshi pressed his lips together. How was he supposed to deal with women? Satoshi Hiwatari doesn't deal with women. 'Oh great…she's going to cry, isn't she?' he thought miserably as his eyes started to soften at her saddened face.

"However…I'll make an exception in your case. Saehara will look for a new apartment for you in a week's time. Until then, you can stay here. I'll charge you accordingly at the end of the week."

A sniffle came from her nose. "Thank you so much…sir."

"Come on. I'll show you to your room."

She stood up and carried the trolley, since the wheels were dirty with puddle dirt. He walked into a long hallway, where two doors were on both sides of the wall.

"The one on your left…" he started, pointing to the richly painted mahogany door on his left. "Is my room. Never enter it, understand?"

Risa nodded quickly. She wasn't curious to know what was inside anyway. He walked on ahead to a second door on their right. It was identical to the first door. "This room will be yours for the next week. It was Saehara's…but I doubt he'll leave a mess in my house."

He opened the door and led her inside. The walls were painted a light mistral blue colour. There was a simple white dressing table with a large oval mirror at the near right of the room. A queen-sized bed, with a bedside table beside it was on the right side of the room, covered with blue and white patterned sheets, comforter and pillows. The windows were opposite the door she was standing at, and the curtains were lilac, with a translucent white under curtain beneath it. Near the windows was a simple writing desk and a lamp on it. A classic wardrobe stood at the left side of the room. Beside that wardrobe, on the far left of the room, was another door.

A look of awe struck her face. The room was so simple, so unlike her own pink room back in Riku's apartment in Fukuoka, yet it was so much more interesting.

"The door over there leads to the bathroom. If you need anything, I'll be outside watching television."

She bowed at him once again with a 'Thank you' from her mouth. He just turned away and proceeded out of the room, shutting the door close behind him.

A beaming bright smile on her face and a shade of flustered pink on her cheeks, Risa just hummed to herself happily as she set the trolley near the bed. She opened it up and pulled out a fresh and dry cream coloured blouse and ivory coloured plaited skirt out from her bag, as well as some undergarments. Smiling happily, she picked up a pair of pink towels, a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner, a bottle of facial wash and a bottle of body wash and forwarded to the bathroom.

Inside, there was a shower cubicle on her left made out of glass. The floors and the bottom half of the walls were tiled with a smooth latte brown coloured marble. The walls were painted almond white. A sink was on the right, with a medicine cabinet over it.

"Thank God…" she thanked, as she began to undress.

* * *

The rain was still pouring, but the dastardly duo lightning and thunder seemed to disappear for the moment. Satoshi blinked slowly as he watched the continuation of the headline news: suicide bombing in Madrid.

"So far, seventy two people are confirmed dead while more than a hundred are still missing. The search and rescue team are still searching for the remaining victims…"

Meanwhile, Risa was gently drying her hair with the towel she took out, and was sitting on the bed. She wrapped her hair with the towel and proceeded to unpack. She took out a few make-up items, some toner and moisturiser and set it neatly on the dressing table. She then took out all of her clothes and arranged them neatly inside the wardrobe.

As soon as she had finished unpacking, even to the last item – her toothpaste and toothbrush, it was already 7 in the evening. She quickly dried her hair thoroughly with her towel and walked outside.

She popped her head in the kitchen when she noticed Satoshi wasn't sitting on the couch. Expectedly, he was cooking something on the stove. Dinner, apparently.

"You really don't have to…" she started. He turned to look at her. He blinked once and opened his mouth to say something.

"You're my guest."

"I know…but I'm your secretary…_sir_."

"I _won't_ repeat. That's an order."

"Yes, sir."

He then turned back to the spaghetti that he was cooking. Risa frowned and walked over to the living room and grabbed a seat on one of the couches. She let her hands support her chin as she set her elbows on her lap. 'What a strange guy…but I should at least be thankful that he let me stay…I mustn't be angry at him…he owns this place after all.'

"Harada-san…"

"Yes, sir?" she asked, perking up immediately.

"Dinner is ready."

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To be continued…

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A/n: Okay, to those who aren't clear: the two DON'T remember who the other is. That means, Risa doesn't remember Satoshi and vice versa. Makes it a little spicy, no?

Please read and review! This will be the last chapter I'm posting anytime soon…I'll be doing some work for school – but don't worry – I'll TRY to slip in a chapter or two in the next two weeks. Thanks and have a nice day!


	2. The Jerk

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

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A/n: Thanks for the reviews, y'all! Now, on with the show:D

Disclaimer: Blabber blabber blab…

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**Chapter Two: The Jerk**

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Satoshi woke up to what seemed like the tenth time that night. "Damnit, that woman…" he cursed. "She's contaminated my house." He turned to listen to his surroundings quietly.

The clock above his desk was ticking slowly. He could hear the soft blowing noises emitting from the small heater inside his room. His eyes twitched slightly as he heard slow snoring noises from the room across the hall.

"Pfft," he snorted. As he listened again, he lay back down with a better thought in his mind. 'At least it stopped raining…'

A few hours later, it was already seven in the morning. He abruptly got up from his bed (his alarm clock rang 15 minutes ago…but due to his low blood pressure, he snoozed in more) and pushed off his comforter to the side.

He walked groggily towards his bathroom, where he picked up his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth. After a few spits and rinsing, he got out of the bathroom and proceeded to dress – he needed to get back to work.

He adjusted his shirt collar once more before proceeding to brush his bright blue locks. Lastly, he picked up his degreeless glasses and put them on, before heading out towards the living room.

Picking up on the newspaper on his doormat outside, he sipped on a cup of coffee he had just made. He sat comfortably on an armchair when he heard a loud ringing of an alarm clock in Risa's room. He looked at his watch abruptly – it showed 7:20.

He quickly finished his coffee and placed the newspaper in his laptop suitcase. Before walking out the door, he made a little stop to the kitchen…

* * *

It was already 7:43 when Risa finally opened her eyes. "Ah…what time is it?" she whispered to herself as she looked up at the blurry clock.

She let out a scream when she realised that she had slept in…again. Quickly rushing into the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and got out again to dress. She grabbed her keys and purse before heading out the door.

She saw a note on the front door as she hastily put on her pumps.

_I hope you aren't going to be late for your first day…otherwise I may have to dock your payment this month…_

Suddenly Risa had wished she stayed jobless in Fukuoka. She rushed out of the door and locked it behind her. She zoomed down to the bottom floor and waved for a cab as soon as reached the main road.

All her desperate efforts were not in vain as she reached the office a few seconds before eight. The other workers were staring at her, some in awe, some in 'the-newbie-is-late' look. With a sigh, she walked over to Satoshi's office and gave the door a little knock.

"Come in."

She hastily opened the door and let herself in. "I'm sorry, sir…I…er…" she mumbled, fumbling with her fingers.

"You slept in? I know…you shut off your alarm clock. Now, your desk is outside, labelled 'Secretary' and I had put a few things you'll need to do for today," said Satoshi, his eyes glued to the desktop screen.

"Thank you, sir…" she said awkwardly, before giving him a polite bow before exiting. As soon as she closed the door, she made a scowl and looked at her table.

It was like any other table in the office, except it had more room for shelves and cabinets of paperwork. Risa's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she saw the one foot thick pile of paperwork on her table.

"God…" she muttered inaudibly. The enthusiasm of yesterday's job application success seemed to float away from her body. She took a seat on the nylon chair and sighed.

"Hey, you're new, ain't 'cha?"

Risa turned sideways and moved her chair backwards to see her neighbour. The lady was in her early 30s, with a pair of oddly black framed specs, a bright red shade of lipstick and straight long black hair tied into a ponytail.

"I'm Ayame Matsumoto. I'm the accountant here. I see you're the new Secretary?" said the lady, holding out her hand.

Risa took her hand and shook it. "Pleased to meet you…I'm Risa Harada. I just got the job yesterday."

Ayame smirked as she started pressing buttons on the calculator on her left hand with the pen she had in her right. "Ah…you finally filled in the long, unoccupied Secretary post. You see, the last Secretary…shame, she was such a charming girl, she did a mistake on one of Boss's reports, you see. Just a minor typo…but I had no idea why Boss was in such a bad mood, he scolded her so loudly the Complaint Department downstairs could hear him. She ran out, tear struck. I heard she fancied Boss, really. But she resigned the next day and went back home to Kyoto."

Risa's eyes twitched slightly. 'Just because of a typo?' she thought, bewildered. Ayame turned her mischievous hazel brown eyes towards Risa again.

"I hope you don't fancy Boss…it's going to kill you."

Risa, taken aback, quickly squeaked "No" with a higher pitched voice than usual. "Why…why would I fancy him?" she said, sticking up for herself.

Ayame just tucked her trusty blue pen behind her ear as she placed her calculator on the table. "Why wouldn't you fancy him, that's the question! I mean, he's very good looking, if you haven't noticed…every 'single' office lady in this building is head over heels in love, my dear."

"What about you?"

"Oh, darling, I'm married. Besides, Boss is much younger than I am."

The intercom on Risa's phone beeped. Risa picked up the phone and answered it. The red flashing light came from the "Boss" button.

"Get to work. Don't let me catch you chit-chatting again – or it's salary deduction for you."

Risa's heart sank to the pit of her empty stomach. "Y…Yes, sir."

She carefully put the phone back down, afraid it might go alive and start yelling like mad. Ayame stood up and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Want some coffee? You're going to need it."

"Sure, thanks…"

* * *

Time flied so slowly in an office building. By lunchtime, Risa had only managed to finish a quarter of the paperwork given. And, knowing Satoshi via what Ayame says of him, he wouldn't let her inside his house until she had finished.

"Do you want to have dinner with us today? It should be the least we could do to celebrate your arrival in the office," asked Ayame after Risa's brief lunch: a few sandwiches and a fourth helping of coffee since that morning.

"Thanks for the offer, Ayame-san…but as you can already see…I have lots more to do."

"But it's Friday, for God's sake! And your first day has you stressed out already, no?"

Risa sulked into her chair and began typing a letter out quickly on the desktop. "Somehow…I get the feeling it's going to be much worse."

Ayame smiled and tapped her on the shoulder. "Well, you are the highest paid one in the department…excluding Boss. That should be satisfying enough. I'll try to see if the others could make a party for you on Saturday evening, okay?"

"Thanks, Ayame-san."

"Don't mention it, Risa-chan…" she said, trailing off as she walked towards the other cubicles. "I have a feeling you will bring a change to the office…"

* * *

Risa had been working non-stop, only getting up from her seat whenever she needed some coffee, or 'Boss' needed some coffee. It was a good thing Riku taught her to make good coffee – otherwise she would have brought herself to utter humiliation in front of 'Mr. Boss-is-a-know-it-all'.

By the time she had finished, it was already half past five, and the workers had gone home. As the fluorescent lights flickered outside the office department, Risa took a quick glimpse at the window. It was dry, fortunately. But the clouds are telling her that she'd better move her butt soon before water starts to pour mercilessly…

She filed the papers neatly and placed them onto one side of the desk, some into a cabinet, and held the rest as she readied herself to go inside Satoshi's room. She gave a terse knock on the door, which was followed by a "come in".

She walked inside and gently placed the files onto the table. "These were what you requested…sir," she mumbled. Satoshi looked up at her and took the file. He opened it and flipped through the pages.

He took off his glasses with a flair that made Risa's heartbeat stop for a second. "Your work is satisfactory. Work harder on grammar – I don't want to lose face," he said, then thrust the file back at her. She took it with both hands and gritted teeth.

"I'll…correct it right now…sir."

She walked stiffly towards the door, still in much anger. She had an A minus in Japanese and a B plus in English on campus, yet he found her work only 'satisfactory'.

'That jerk…after this week, I swear I am going to enjoy living away from him as much as I can,' she thought, as she underlined the unintended mistakes she had made in the reports with a pen.

'And I'll go to the party tomorrow night…oh yes…and I'll enjoy myself…' she thought maniacally, as she tossed the pen into the bin – it ran out of ink. She turned on the desktop and began retyping.

By the time she had finished that – it was already a quarter past six. Her stomach was growling...actually roaring with hunger.

'I'll feed you when I get this to the brat…' she thought angrily. She turned off the computer and walked towards the office, where Satoshi was all ready to leave.

"Just leave that on my table, Harada-san," he monotonously said before walking off. "And lock my door when you leave."

As soon as Satoshi left the floor, Risa stormed angrily and slammed the file onto his table – then out of the room, locking the door with a slam. She grabbed her purse and walked downstairs herself.

When she reached the car park, it was already raining heavily. She looked around for any signs of Satoshi, and spotted his black Vios. To her horror and disbelief, he drove right past her and out of the building grounds.

"THAT JERK!" Risa screamed, at the top of her lungs.

* * *

Risa was so angered, she did not bother to return to his house until after she had her dinner at a nearby café. Meanwhile, Satoshi was already fed, changed and watching news on the television.

"The bomb attacks are still under investigation. The group of terrorists are suspected to be moving through different transport networks…"

His eyes were focused onto the news displayed, but his mind seemed to drift off elsewhere. 'God, I swear she rings a bell…but I can't remember…'

Speaking of bells, his doorbell rung. He rolled his eyes sarcastically and walked over to the door to open the door. Standing at the doorway, slightly wet from the rain (she had brought her umbrella), was his little Miss Secretary.

"You know…you have the keys to the front door," he said, as if talking to a 5 year-old. "You could just open it and walk to your room without bothering me…"

She looked up at his beautiful blue eyes and glared at him, before she walked in and took off her shoes. She then walked quietly towards her room. "I already ate, so don't bother," she said, closing the door shut behind her.

Once more, he rolled his eyes and walked back to his original seat on the sofa. "Who bothered – an invisible person beside me?" he muttered, changing the channel.

* * *

Risa popped a CD – Utada Hikaru's new album - into her Discman when she was sitting all alone in the room. She slowly closed her eyes as she played Track 8 – a slow ballad, kind of like her favourite Utada Hikaru song, First Love.

'Damn, Hiwatari is such a jerk! Argh, I can't wait until Saemichi…or whatever his name is…gets me a better apartment. Honestly – there must be someone more…human that I could live with!'

She took a picture from her drawer and looked at it longingly. Inside, was a picture of her, her twin sister Riku, and Riku's boyfriend Daisuke. It had been such a long time…they took the photo when they started campus life.

'Ah, the good old days,' she mumbled, trailing the frame with her finger. She picked up the cell phone beside her and dialled Riku's number up.

"Moshi moshi – Riku speaking…"

"Riku-chan! Oh God, I miss you so much!"

"Risa! How's Azumano? You okay up there?"

"I'm fine…except my first day of work was the worst one day of my life!"

"What are you talking about, Risa?"

"Well," she said, lowering her voice down to make sure Satoshi wasn't eavesdropping. "I got a job as a secretary at the Investigation Department in Azumano Police HQ – and the boss is a total jerk!"

"So? Almost all bosses are jerks!"

"Well, he isn't a boss – he's a tyrannical dictator."

"So what? You sound as if you're living with him."

"Actually…I am."

She could hear Riku spit out whatever she had been drinking on the other line.

"Oh gross! The latte, I mean. What do you mean, you are?"

"Well, the Saemichi…"

"Saehara."

"Right. The Saehara guy used to live at this place – and it turns out my boss owns the place – can you believe it? This is just my bad luck…"

"Wait…is your boss an old guy?"

"No! He's really young and quite the babe-magnet at office, if you get what I mean."

"What, you interested, Risa?"

"HELL NO! That pompous jerk? Never…not in a million years. Japan has better guys…like Takuya Kimura…wait, he's married. Or Hayato Ichihara, then. HAH!"

"Okay…whatever you say Risa…remember, what you hate is easily changed to what you _love_…"

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"Nothing – remember to visit! Bye!"

The line went dead as Risa snapped the phone closed in fury. She snorted at her sister's comment. "Fall for Hiwatari? Pfft – I could think of better things to do – like going to the toilet!"

* * *

To be continued…

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A/n: Okay – Chiharu is very tired…and sleepy. Please review – I need more support on this story! Argh school is driving me mad. I won't be updating regularly, as you all know already…but please be patient! The school holidays shouldn't be far from now:D 


	3. Payback and Recollections

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

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Disclaimer: If I owned DNAngel…it's not DNAngel anymore.

Author's Note: Thanks, you guys – for all your support! This particular fic is the most interesting out of my 3 unfinished D. fanfics, but I'll try to complete this one, as well as Dance Steps (because it was such a hit). Once again, thank you for your support! P.S. My writing style might have changed over the years, so bear with me.

Also, another thing – please bear with the Japanese honorary suffixes (-san and –chan, in particular) that I put in this story. I want to give it a feel of an anime/manga as much as I can. If this bothers you, I'll erase it in the next chapter.

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_Saturday and Sunday: Payback and Recollections_

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"I'll show him…" muttered Risa through gritted teeth. She was turning a knob on the third alarm clock she had been setting that night. "I'll show him! He's not the boss of me…even though…technically…he _IS_ my boss. But still, he can't boss my life! I'll kick myself if I don't get up early tomorrow…though I'm not exactly sure HOW I'm supposed to do that…" She set the alarm clock on her bedside table. "There! Good night!" she said absent-mindedly to herself, pulling the covers over herself and nodding off to sleep.

Meanwhile, Satoshi was flipping through some papers while typing a report on his laptop in his room when he heard Risa talking to herself. 'Women,' he thought. 'Even the sane ones are crazy…'

The next morning, precisely at seven, Satoshi woke up to a nauseating Saturday morning as all three of Risa's alarm clocks rang at the same time, causing a deafening echo throughout the whole house. "Bloody shit," he cursed, throwing and kicking the comforter off his bed, letting it drop to the floor without a care. He walked…more of staggered towards the door, walking slowly like a drunkard. He pounded on Risa's door hard with his fist.

"Harada, what in the name of God do you think you're…" began Satoshi, but he stopped in mid-sentence as Risa swung open the door. He felt himself gulp down the access saliva in his dry mouth as he saw what Risa was wearing…a really skimpy and _thin_ nightdress. So thin he could even see the undergarments she was wearing…and _wasn't _wearing…

"Good morning, but if you don't mind, I'd like an early start to the office," she said as-a-matter-of-factly, before slamming the door shut in his face. A few silent, unwavering seconds later…

"Bloody shit," cursed Satoshi again, blocking his nose with the sleeve of his shirt, which was beginning to stain with blood…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Risa got dressed, buttoning her caramel brown jacket whilst brushing her teeth. 'Hah! At least I got up early today!' she thought, spitting toothpaste into the sink. After all the fuss, she took her handbag off the dressing table and walked out the door, poised and calm. She looked up at the clock on the wall. It read: 7:30 a.m.

'Great. Just in time to grab some breakfast and take a cab to office,' she thought, taking a few pieces of bread and inserting them into the toaster. As she was buttering the bread, she noticed Satoshi walking into the lounge, wearing a complete suit – grey blazer and pants, blue tie and white shirt. Risa took a quick glance at him and returned to buttering before nibbling the crunchy bread.

"Harada, pass me one of those," he said commandingly, referring to the stack of toast Risa had just prepared. Rolling her eyes sarcastically, she took the plate and set it in front of Satoshi's face.

"Here you go, _sir_, have a good meal. I'll be off now," she said arrogantly, before taking her bag and leaving the house. Satoshi eyed her without care or emotion, taking a slice of toast and eating one himself. A few seconds later, he almost spitted it out.

'Crap…this bread tastes like charcoal…' he thought, before looking down at the plate. With gritted teeth, he picked up the plate and dropped the toast into the bin. 'It looks like bread…but it was charcoal. Don't tell me the woman can't cook to save her life?'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Good morning!" rang Risa's cheery voice as she pushed open the office door. Some looked at her in confusion, others with amusement. Ayame smiled at her.

"Hey, you're early today, Risa-chan," she said, nibbling on some Oreos dunked in a tall glass of milk. "Want some?" she asked, offering the chocolate cookies to Risa. Risa took one and bit a large chunk.

'Thank God…the toast I made was like charcoal…' she thought, taking her seat at the Secretary table. She took out a blank piece of paper and started doodling, doing her signatures, drawing cartoons - like a very ugly dinosaur labelled 'Satoshi the tyrant'. 5 minutes to eight, Satoshi arrived at the office, a pack of rice cakes bought from a nearby store in his hands.

As he passed by Risa's table, he looked at her and glared at her,as a sign of thanks for the toast he had. She smiled sweetly back at him, crumpling up the scrap paper and tossed it into the bin. "Good morning, _sir_," she said, making him scoff and enter his office.

"Hey, Risa-chan, did you make boss angry or something?" asked Ayame, curious, her pen always tucked behind her ear. Risa shook her head.

"No…it's just an ordinary day."

By lunchtime, most of the workers should have gone home to enjoy what's left of their Saturday. Ayame tapped Risa on the shoulder. "Ne, Risa-chan, the others and I were thinking of having a welcome dinner party for you tonight. Can you make it this time?"

Risa pondered for a while. 'A party? For me? Wow, that's so nice of them.'

"Hmm…maybe. Who else are you inviting?" asked Risa.

"Well, this whole department is going…except poor old Mr. Takashima…oh, and Commander Hiwatari. He said he has dinner with the upper boards."

Risa grinned. 'To choose between staying at the tyrant's house or to go to a dinner party with nice people…it's like choosing between Brussels sprouts and chocolate – I'm in!'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Where are you going?"

Risa turned around to find her door open, and Satoshi looking at her through his glasses. Although the Commander was surprised to see her in a red dress that ended at her mid-thighs and exposed a little too much of her shoulders, his curiosity over his housemate's night activity overpowered his normal, usually unconcerned self. She set the cherry pink lipstick down and frowned at him. "I know this is your house and all, _sir_, but at least knock when you're entering! I could have been half-naked, for your perverted viewing pleasure!"

Satoshi blinked a few times, bewildered. Even though the very _thought_ of her being half-naked was trying to get through the firewall inside his head, he scoffed airily. "Well, _pardon me_, Miss Harada, but I believe I asked you a question that you should answer."

"Well, it's a little gathering that Ayame-san and the rest are holding for me. Does that answer your question?" she asked, taking her handbag and walking over to the doorway. Satoshi, she noticed, was wearing a black suit this time with a red tie.

'Is that all he has in that wardrobe of his?' she thought, walking past him into the living room. "Anyway, I think I might be home quite late – so you can go ahead and sleep early," she said, putting on her shoes at the foyer, facing the front door.

'As if I was going to wait for you, you conceited woman,' thought Satoshi with an airy scoff. He watched solemnly behind the curtains as she left the apartment, buttoning the cuffs of his sleeves. 'Ah well…time now to face boredom with Father and his friends.'

Satoshi arrived home later that night, at about 10 o'clock, after his extremely boring dinner. His father was blabbing on to his friends on how Satoshi hasn't gotten himself a girlfriend yet - and suddenly all the snobby, Botox-injected rich women were giving their daughters' phone numbers away to him. He stopped by the kitchen, stuck his hand into his pocket, pulled out about a dozen napkins with numbers written on its corners, and without a doubt tossed the whole pile into the bin.

The whole house was silent. Too silent. Just the way he liked it. 'This means Harada isn't back yet. Time to enjoy the house to myself while I still have the chance…' he thought, getting in his room and changing into something more casual - like a cotton white shirt and dark blue pants. He made coffee and sat down on the couch watching TV, but found himself flipping mindlessly through the 100 or so channels in his cable service.

Once in a while, he would glance at the clock. Hours passed by excruciatingly slow, and Satoshi was actually getting worried. He sipped down on more coffee to keep him awake. He glanced from the TV, to the sidewalk outside, to the door, then back to the clock. 'Where the bloody hell is she?' he pondered, looking down at the ground from the balcony. He checked his watch - it was nearing 1 a.m. and he had already turned off the television. Of course, he did realise a few hours ago that he could have just _called _ her cell phone, but his ego was much too high for him to do such an act.

The doorbell rang after a few more hanging minutes, and Satoshi leapt for the door. He swung it open and an apparently drunk Risa fell straight into his arms - she had been leaning against the door for support. He was overwhelmed at the sudden addition of weight, and his nose crinkled up in disgust as he inhaled the strong smell of alcohol from Risa's mouth.

"Oh, no more _sake_, Ayame-san…I'm good…I think I'll just…lie against this soft pillow," mumbled Risa, rubbing her pink cheek against the fabric of Satoshi's shirt. Satoshi groaned slightly and set her down slowly on the floor, before taking off the high heels that she was wearing. He then picked her off the floor and carried her like a bride back into her room.

While setting her down on her bed, he groaned in disgust, thinking, 'What the hell is wrong with this bloody woman…getting drunk at this time of night…what if she got raped by a psycho? There are a lot of psychos in Azumano…' Without warning, she suddenly threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down on the bed with her. His face pressed against her neck and cleavage, he felt his face turn brick red as not only was he finding it extremely hard to breathe…he was finding it _extremely_ hard to breathe. He struggled hard and was able to pry her arms off his neck. He then sat up on her bed, breathing heavily before shooting a menacing glare at her.

'Living with this woman is someday going to get me killed…'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A loud groan escaped Risa's lips as she woke up to a very painful Sunday morning. She clutched her head, feeling woozy and at the same time, being a victim to some sort of alien migraine. She shook her head slightly and looked at herself. Apparently, she was still wearing the dress she wore for the party last night and she smelt strongly of alcohol. Looking around, she realised she was in her room in Satoshi's apartment. She gave a little sigh in relief.

'Oh good…I made it back safely…' she thought to herself. Then it hit her. 'Wait…HOW THE HELL DID I END UP ON MY BED? I DON'T REMEMBER!'

She quickly gave out a loud scream. Satoshi swung the door open and glared at her. "For the love of God and all holy beings in the world, keep quiet, Harada! I'm trying to WORK here!"

One look at him and even Daisuke would have screamed. He seemed to be paler than ever, and there was a tad of bloody tissue in his left nostril. His glasses were not on the bridge of his nose and his hair looked like a disastrous accident! Risa's eyes twitched. "Why…do you have blood in your nose?" she asked tentatively.

Quickly pulling the tissue bit out of his nostril, he shouted back at her, "That's none of your business!" Risa covered herself with the blanket and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"YOU PERVERT! You took advantage of me when I was drunk!" she screamed.

"WHAT? I did nothing of the sort!" he retorted, taking a step forward.

"Stay away from me, you rapist! Pervert! HELP!" she screamed again.

Satoshi tried her best to shush her as his nosy neighbours were most probably able to hear her banshee-like scream. "Bloody hell, Harada, SHUT UP!" he shouted, but she wouldn't stop screaming for help.

'This is bad,' he thought. 'If they actually start asking questions…I may never walk on the streets of Azumano again…'

He leapt forward and jumped on her bed. Risa screamed even louder, but before she could scream another time, he covered her mouth with the palm of his hand. "Listen to me, Harada - I did not rape you! I wouldn't do it even if you wanted me to! The point is, you keep your mouth shut and I'll let you keep your job AND your virginity."

Risa's eyes narrowed, before she decided to give Satoshi's hand a large bite. "AHHH!" he yelped.

"Pervert! I don't care if you're my boss, nor if you're king of the world! Get off my bed, or I'll file a lawsuit against you!" she hissed back. Satoshi did as she said and quickly withdrew from her bed. She held her forehead again, feeling the pain of the hangover overcome her.

Satoshi scoffed. "I'll get you some herbal tea, so just stay there like the secretary you are. Be thankful you're not going to be the EX-secretary anytime soon," he spat, before leaving the room.

'Damn that woman…first she causes problems for me, then doesn't thank me for it, and even accuses me of raping her! Sometimes I wonder why I still keep her around…' he grumbled to himself as he opened the cupboard and pulled out a box of herbal tea. He poured some hot water into the cup before inserting the tea bag and stirring it with a spoon.

It felt peaceful that moment, as he was mindlessly thinking about the report he had to complete and present to his father in a few days' time. However, a loud barfing sound snapped him out of his reverie and he quickly ran to Risa's room. Looking at the small puddle of halfway digested foods on the carpet of his apartment floor, he would have strangled the woman to death if she didn't already look deathly sick.

"Harada, you crazy woman…" he muttered as he helped her off her bed and into the bathroom, where she barfed again into the toilet bowl. Satoshi crossed his arms, feeling mad. "Who the hell forced you to drink this much? If you're not a drinker, why drink?"

Risa wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Shut up, Hiwatari, you sound like my mother…"

His eyes twitched slightly at that insolent remark. "You do realise I am your boss and I can fire you at any time?" he said.

"Well, why don't you?" she asked, challenging him as she stood up.

That comment caught him by surprise. "Umm…" he started.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" she asked again, sneering slightly.

"Oh, whatever," he said. "If you want that tea of yours, get it at the kitchen." He walked out of the bathroom and stood by the doorway, where he added with a disgusted look on his face, "By the way, clean up your own mess."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Risa felt much better after she struggled to the kitchen to drink the tea Satoshi made for her. Well…of course one cup was not enough, so she decided to help herself to his jar of herbal tea and made some more. After a good shower, she decided to clean up her mess after all, since she felt bad for Satoshi – but more importantly was more afraid of losing her job. After cleaning and rinsing the cloth she used to wipe off her vomit and hanging it out to dry at the pantry, she went back to her bedroom, where she suddenly remembered that her cell phone was on silent mode. She had this habit of putting it on silent when going for karaoke – it was weird, according to Riku, but she didn't like to be bothered in the middle of singing a ballad.

She picked up the small, thin, Sony Ericsson phone and slid it open. Displayed on the screen was, '2 new messages'. Clicking the appropriate buttons, she began to read the messages. The earliest was from Ayame, which read:

_I hope u got home okay. Don't worry abt the taxi fare – that's what friends are for. Take care, and c u on Monday._

The message was sent a little over 1 a.m. that morning, and Risa bit her lower lip, recollecting bits and pieces of what happened. 'That's right...Ayame offered to take me home, but I said I was okay so she dropped me off in front of the apartment complex. Oh, thank God she didn't bring me all the way up here or she would've definitely seen the 'Hiwatari' nameplate outside this house!' she thought, sighing in relief. 'I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if the office people knew I was staying under one roof with him.'

She continued with the second text message, which was from Saehara (whose phone number she got from Daisuke, a good friend of his). It read:

_Yo, Harada-imouto – I'm still findin a place 4 u to stay, but I'm goin out to look at some of them today. If u wanna come along, call me._

She turned to the clock on the wall. It was only eight, and she doubt that Saehara was that much of an early bird. 'Wait, since when does Azumano real estate people work on Sundays?' she thought in bewilderment. 'But I guess maybe some do. I should be thankful!'

Without a moment to lose, she gave Saehara a call and told him that she was coming along with him to look at the houses. After ending their brief call, she grabbed her coat, purse and umbrella (just in case it rained) and exited her bedroom. She passed by Satoshi's room as she walked down the hallway, and noticing that the door was left slightly ajar, she decided to peek in – since there was no signs of him being anywhere else around the house when she was cleaning up.

Standing at the bit of the doorway that was open for her, she smiled when she saw Satoshi sleeping soundly on his own bed, thin rays of sunlight peeking threw the closed curtains. Her scream must've woke him up, and it was a Sunday. Risa suddenly felt bad for him and decided she would have to make it up to him for taking care of her – one way or another. 'Besides,' she said, leaving her boss to sleep in peace. 'I won't be staying here for long, so I would have to at least be nice to him.'

She locked the door on her way out and walked all the way to the nearby train station where Saehara was waiting. He was still as she remembered him at their gatherings in college (Daisuke invited him, for most parts), spiky black hair with a grin on his face. "Yo, Harada-imouto!" he called her, as opposed to just "Harada-san" when he addressed Riku, her older twin.

Risa felt relieved upon seeing a familiar face. "Good morning, Saehara-san," she said, approaching him. They had a quick chat to talk about what was going on in their lives, and when the coach arrived, they boarded it and went uphill.

At this memory, Risa smiled. She would always ride this coach uphill when she was in middle school. It was too bad that once middle school ended, they moved to Fukuoka. Daisuke also moved to the same place – Risa had teased Riku that this was 'destiny' – because of Daisuke's father being transferred there and how his mother wanted to live with him so badly. They had spent high school together, but somehow Azumano was just a faded but fond memory, deep inside her heart.

And of course she couldn't exactly forget her trifle with Dark, although she couldn't quite remember how he looked like now. 'Ah well...I guess I'll just have to wait until Daisuke and Riku have a son,' she mused absent-mindedly.

"This brings back memories, doesn't it?" asked Saehara as he looked out the window with her. "Middle school. One of the craziest times of my life. What with the crazy thefts from Dark and all."

Risa giggled at the thought. "Yeah, it definitely was."

"Not to mention my dad was almost having a mental breakdown from chasing the guy. That, and having Hiwatari as his boss. Frickin' genius."

"Your dad worked for Hiwatari when we were in middle school?" she asked.

Saehara nodded. "Can you imagine having a boss the same age as your son?"

Risa's eyebrows shot up. "You mean, Satoshi? I thought you were talking about his dad!"

The young man laughed at her reaction. "You didn't know? He's been a Commander since he was fourteen! Of course he's climbed some ranks by now, but he's still in the business, isn't he?"

"So...wait a minute...he was in our school?"

Saehara's eyebrows furrowed. "Like...yeah. Are you okay, Harada? You sufferin' from amnesia or something? Hiwatari's been chasing Dark down like a stalker. Since you were such a fan of his, I thought you would've at least remembered that."

Risa turned back to the scenery of Azumano as memories began to fill her head. The rest of Saehara's voice was like a blurry echo after that, as she remembered all about the Satoshi Hiwatari that disappeared from her brain. The part where he had followed her to the mall and she asked to take his glasses off (and he strangely complied); the part where he dressed up as a woman to lure Dark and they fell into a trap (and he gave her his jacket when she sneezed); the part where she went for a class trip and he fell asleep on her shoulder (and even as her friends teased her, her face was still bright red); the part where she fell asleep at the beach and she woke up to find him touching her hair (and Saehara accusing them of nonsense shortly after that); and the one she remembered the least...

'It was a cold night and I followed Dark to the museum...and then I felt everything around me turn to black, but there was the sound of wings flapping,' she thought as the carriage was about to come to a stop. 'The next thing I knew, I woke up on a park bench and there was a jacket on me...with one single white feather.'

As the crowd began exiting the coach, pushing her along with their wave, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to that feather and jacket. She had speculated about the jacket long ago, and she had a strong feeling that it belonged to Satoshi, maybe because she had seen him wear it before.

And suddenly she felt like going back to his apartment to ask him about all this – because to her it seemed that he didn't remember any of this, just as she had.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_To be continued..._

A/n: The scenes of which I stated above was from the manga, for most parts. I haven't read the manga nor watched the anime in years, so please forgive me if I made any mistakes. Regarding Dark, let's assume that Daisuke has become close enough to Riku and Risa to tell him of his little DNA transformation – but not the whole story with Krad and Satoshi, though, since he didn't want to badmouth anyone.


	4. Revealed

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Disclaimer: I don't actually have to do this every chapter, but I don't own DNAngel.

Author's Note: Thank you for your reviews! I can't believe people are still reading this story, since the anime and manga is pretty old already. Anyway, I'll try my best to complete this story. There's not a lot of chapters left anyway, I never meant for this fic to reach 10 chapters. Thank you for all your support, and I hope this chapter pleases you!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_Monday: Revealed_

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Satoshi woke to the incessant ringtone that was being emitted by his cell phone on the side table. Groggily, he sat up on the bed, face still pale from the low blood pressure he usually has upon waking. Grabbing the electronic device off the table, he pressed the green button to accept the incoming call and growled at the sight of the name on the screen. "What do you want, it's Sunday for the love of..." he grumbled, not even waiting for the person on the other line to speak up.

"I'm so sorry to bother you at a time like this, Commander," said Suzuki, one of his subordinates in the office working with the Crime Investigation Department. His voice stuttered slightly because from Satoshi's hoarse voice, he knew he had bothered his boss in the middle of his sleep. "But we received a threat..."

"What kind of threat?" asked Satoshi, a little less angry and more curious. What kind of fool would call in a threat on a Sunday to the Police Department, thinking they'd be off?

"It was a card, sir. A thief apparently wants to steal the statue of the Harvest Goddess in Azumano Museum. It's been signed, 'Dark Mousy'."

Satoshi's eyebrows furrowed. 'Dark has returned? No, that's impossible...the only living medium of Dark is currently in Fukuoka, the last I checked,' he mused. 'And the last time I remember – Niwa and I had settled this problem for good.'

While anticipating Satoshi's reply, the officer Suzuki continued, "The responding unit forwarded the card to our department, and by the looks of it, the thief may be serious. After all, Dark Mousy caused quite the stir some ten years ago."

Satoshi scoffed as he pushed the covers off and got out of bed. "The locals are familiar with that, I know," he said. "I'll come down to the office. Make sure the rest of the team arrives before I do."

"Yes, sir!" said Suzuki, before Satoshi simply ended the call with a push of the red button on the keypad. Sighing, he dragged himself to the bathroom to wash his face before getting dressed. Upon exiting his bedroom, he noticed that Risa's door was closed and there were no signs of her. Briefly, he checked his watch, and it read a quarter past eleven a.m.

'She's probably out shopping,' he thought with furrowed eyebrows, remembering what had happened earlier that morning. He shook his head, trying not to bother himself with such trivial thoughts. He exited his apartment and went to the car park, where he drove his car through the streets to his office through the usual route. Cursing his bad luck to have to come to the office on a Sunday, he readjusted his glasses and headed up to the office building.

It took Satoshi and his team a few hours, but they managed to track down the card's sender and found out that it was just a prank sent by a bunch of stupid teenagers who had heard of Dark Mousy's legend, which was exaggerated from the actual story ten years ago. Of course, Satoshi being Satoshi – he was not pleased with this outcome and therefore threatened the naughty boys to take them into custody and go to trial for 'threatening national security', which made them pale with fear since they thought of it as an innocent prank. They were in tears by the time their parents got down to the station to bail them out.

He only returned home at half past eight after grabbing a quick bite at a café, but because of the prank he didn't have much of an appetite anyway. Swinging the front door open, he was surprised to see the lights already on and the electric kettle boiling with water. He took off his shoes and proceeded to the living room, where Risa sat on one of the long couches, looking at a bunch of brochures, some photocopied and some coloured, scattered all over her lap and the seats beside her. When she noticed his presence, she gasped.

Turning to look up at him, hazel eyes met cerulean ones and she quickly turned away in embarrassment. "Uh...welcome home," she said, still mortified at what she did to him that morning.

Satoshi decided to ignore the morning's events – simply because he was too tired – and eased himself into the armchair. He didn't say a word to Risa, who was looking at him as he let out a big sigh and closed his eyes. He took off his glasses and proceeded rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers. At this rate, the incompetent fools at his office was going to give him a migraine, he figured; and if his flatmate was going to cause anymore problems...

"Sir...would you like some coffee? I can make you a cup."

He opened his eyes slowly and turned to her with a bit of a surprise. Here she was screaming at him with accusations of rape just that morning and now she was being so nice. 'Is she bipolar?' he thought. "Yes, that would be nice," he said, eyes not leaving the worried expression on her face. She nodded briskly, and stood up gracefully after placing the carefully sorted brochures on the coffee table across her.

Her almost silent footsteps against the carpeted floor faded away as she disappeared into the kitchen, and Satoshi continued to rub his temples. He opened his eyes and turned to look at the brochures she had set earlier. Picking one up, he read its printed contents: specifications about an apartment and its rent and down payments. 'Well, it figures...Saehara did say she was staying a week, at most,' he concluded, folding it back and tossing it on top of the stack.

Risa returned with a tray in her hands, and on top of it was two steaming cups of warm drinks and one small plate with a slice of chocolate cake on it. She knelt down and set the drinks and cake on the table. Satoshi observed as she did this – and he couldn't help but think how ladylike she was. 'Perhaps that's what they teach them in secretary school, since they all seem to be good at it.'

"What's that?" he asked, when she sat back down on her seat and he noticed the elegantly decorated chocolate cake sitting on the plate.

Risa felt her cheeks being tickled pink. "I was out at town...and I kind of felt bad about troubling you this morning," she mumbled bashfully. "So I thought I'd say sorry and make it up to you. I'm so sorry about this morning, sir. It's silly, I know, but please have some of this chocolate cake."

Satoshi raised an eyebrow. "Apology accepted, Harada-san...and since we're alone, just call me Hiwatari-san. It stresses me to hear you calling me 'sir' even in my own home."

"Thank you, Hiwatari-san," she said, her hair hanging down as she tilted her head down in a small bow. When she sat up straight again, he was sipping on his coffee and after a satisfactory gulp of caffeine, he set the cup back down on the table and Risa waited for him to taste the cake. "Aren't you going to eat the cake?"

"I don't like sweet things," he told her, and she didn't know whether to smile or frown.

'Figures. He's always been bitter, even in middle school,' she thought. 'Though...he has changed a lot.' She gazed at him as he picked up the remote from the table and turned on the TV. While he flipped mindlessly through the uninteresting channels, she noticed how his eyes still had that same coldness as all those years ago, and how his skin colour was the same – but he had definitely grown, in terms of size. Satoshi was a lot taller now, and if he was already good-looking back then, his growth into manhood only seemed to made him look even better, with broad-shoulders, a lean body and a low, baritone voice to go with his grown up self.

"Why are you staring at me?" he asked, sharply turning to meet her eyes that gave her heart a small jump.

"Eh...eheh..." she laughed nervously. "I just thought you uh..." she mumbled, thinking of something as he was looking directly at her with those piercing eyes of his. She swore that his eyes can make her eyes bleed as something random suddenly popped into her mind. "You kinda look better without your glasses."

Satoshi stared at her, baffled at what she had just said. 'Why does that sound so familiar?' he thought. "I'll...take that as a compliment," he finally replied, of which made Risa's eyes twitch.

'That narcissistic...I never should've said anything!' she thought as her blood boiled. "And for the record, the cake isn't made out of milk chocolate, so it isn't all that sweet. It's dark chocolate."

He paid attention to her as she said this, and this statement certainly caught his interest. Picking up the plate, he cut a small piece of the slice of cake with the fork and took a bite of it. To his surprise, it was actually really good. He detested sweets of any kind, but dark chocolate was his only exception. "Do you...like it?" asked Risa, head titled slightly as she watched his expression as he ate the expensive slice of cake she bought at the Italian restaurant uphill.

"It's...good," he said, though she couldn't tell how much he enjoyed it because he was poker-faced. "Why dark chocolate, though?"

Risa smiled, thinking it a little bit funny that he was asking a question with such an obvious answer. "I just figured you to be a high-class connoisseur of sorts. You know, the type who enjoys wine, champagne, foie gras and caviar."

Satoshi had to stifle the laugh that was threatening to escape his lips, but he ended up smiling anyway. "You honestly think of me that way? Well, I do enjoy wine, but I've never had foie gras or caviar. Fatty livers of ducks doesn't sound all that appealing, even with a French name," he told her, before helping himself to another bite of the cake.

Risa smiled with him at his statement, picking up her mug of hot chocolate and sipping its contents with pleasure. 'He should definitely smile more often,' she thought. 'At least he won't look like a monster all the time.' As the room was filled with a heavy silence despite the television being turned on with an advertisement about laundry detergent, Risa decided; now that she remembered him, she was going to be nicer to him. After all, he was letting her stay in his home for a while.

"So...where were you this afternoon?" she asked, just to start a conversation topic.

"I was at the office," he said, changing the channels again. "Suzuki called me because a bunch of teenage kids wrote a card, threatening to steal a statue in the museum under the name 'Dark Mousy'. Those fools."

"Dark Mousy? You mean the phantom thief Dark Mousy?" asked Risa.

"I'm surprised you've heard of him. Weren't you from Fukuoka?"

Risa shook her head, not surprised that he had forgotten about her. "I lived in Azumano until I was fifteen. My family moved to Fukuoka after that. I was here when Dark was making headlines," she said, smiling at the memory of her teenage crush on the handsome thief.

"I see..." he said, turning back to the TV. Even though Risa wanted to ask him about what she had remembered about him on the train, she decided that it could wait – since he looked really tired and there was work to do the next day. After finishing about half of the cake, he set it down. "You can have the rest," he said. "Thank you for the cake."

Risa was flustered as he stood up and made his way to the bedroom. "Wait, Hiwatari-san...did you already have dinner?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered, turning to her sideways. "I grabbed a bite before coming home."

"Oh," Risa said, a bit disappointed. She had wanted to treat him to dinner, or perhaps maybe cook dinner for him? From what Ayame told her, Satoshi rarely had a proper meal. She proved this fact when she opened his fridge to find the produce drawer and freezer empty. "I was thinking of..." she trailed off, fingers intertwined with each other as she blushed, standing there at the hallway.

"Thinking of what?" asked Satoshi, a bit annoyed that she left her sentence hanging.

"I was thinking of making dinner for you. To make up for constantly bothering you."

Satoshi raised a sceptical eyebrow. "You...cook? I appreciate your sentiments, but you're not secretly wishing me an early death, are you?"

Risa's hands gripped into fists as she stomped one foot on the floor like a child. "No! Jeez, I know I don't cook well, but I can at least cook some dishes! I just don't know how to toast bread without a toaster, okay?"

After giving it some thought, Satoshi answered. "Fine, I'll bear with your cooking," he said, wanting to at least please her request before she moved out of his house. "What are you going to make?"

"I guess...I'll make pasta. Since that's what I'm the best at, according to my sister."

Satoshi nodded. "Pasta it is, then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to retreat to my bedroom."

Risa stood there and watched as he walked down the hallway and disappeared into his bedroom. She sighed as the doors closed and she walked back to the living room to continue thinking while looking at the brochures. Taking the cake and mindlessly taking a bite of it using the same fork he did, she smiled as it was as good as it used to be, despite being a tad bit more expensive now that she was living on her own and not on her parents' weekly allowance.

'These apartments are either too expensive or just downright shabby...' she thought with a sigh. 'I hope Saehara gets in touch with his people soon and find me a good place,' she then thought, since she recently knew that Saehara was a columnist at the local papers. When she pulled the fork out of her mouth, she realised that she had used Satoshi's fork and gave a yelp, which could be heard by Satoshi who was changing out of his clothes.

"It's nothing, Hiwatari-san, don't mind me!" he heard her yell a second later. A small groan escaped his lips.

'I guess I won't be at peace for a while.'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

There was something keeping him from sleeping later that night, and even as the clock beside him displayed half past one in the morning, he couldn't get his mind off the fact that Risa was from Azumano until she was fifteen, and that she was strangely all too familiar. Deciding that he wouldn't be able to sleep until his curious thoughts were satiated, he got up from the bed to head into the storeroom where he kept some of his things from a long time ago.

After some ten to fifteen minutes of searching through boxes in the dimly lit storeroom, he found the box containing his yearbooks and pulled the flaps open. Finding the yearbook of when he was fourteen, he pulled it out and dusted it off before flipping through its contents. He stopped at his class and saw Risa's name and picture there, right next to her twin sister Riku. 'So that's why she was so familiar,' he thought. 'She was an ex-classmate...and a really big fan of Dark.'

As he squinted his eyes to concentrate on her old class photo, he realised then why he didn't recognise her straight away. When she was young she had this girl-like face with innocent doe eyes, and her straight hair was tied with that ridiculously large pink ribbon, but now she had grown into a sensible (albeit slightly insane) young woman, and her hair was longer and left free to fall over her shoulders. She had a more mature way of dressing, and her speech was more polite and less childish. She was a beautiful girl when they were in middle school, but now that she's all grown up with curves at the right places, she had never looked more attractive.

"So we meet again, Harada-san..." he whispered to himself, tracing the picture with his fingertip.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Risa arrived at the office just on time as Satoshi had left the house earlier, without waking her up as usual. Ayame could only smile as she offered some of her rice balls to the young secretary, and after finishing just one, she rushed to grab a cup of coffee before Satoshi began working her to the bone. She was halfway downing her coffee when he rang her on the intercom at the desk. 'Speak of the devil,' she thought bitterly, picking up the receiver.

The rest of the working day went as how a normal Monday usually goes at the department. After typing and printing the last letter she had, she grabbed it and walked to Satoshi's office to have it signed. The commander glanced through it, nodded once and signed it quickly. "Is there anything else?" she asked, clipping the letter to the attachments that she had to give to the mailman the next morning.

Satoshi was still looking at some papers and then at his desktop. "No, your work is done for today. You should head home."

"What about you?" she asked, forgetting to add the 'sir' to the end of her question.

"I'm going to finish a little late," he said, turning away from the computer and looking up to her. "Besides, don't you have to cook today?"

Risa's grip on the clipboard tightened as she felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck at his piercing gaze. "Oh yeah...I guess I should."

Satoshi smirked, setting the papers down and giving her his full attention. "I'm looking forward to dinner tonight," he said, which made Risa's blood rush to the capillaries underneath her cheeks.

"I...I'll take my leave now," she said, cheeks flushed as she exited his office. Satoshi pressed a hand against his chin and chuckled as he heard the clicking footsteps of her high heels disappearing. Apparently he had not lost the ability to fluster her, as he remembered that he was able to turn her cheeks red on multiple occasions back in their middle school days.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After clocking out, Risa headed straight for the supermarket to buy her ingredients for dinner that night. To her relief, there were not too many people as she was doing late shopping, compared to the local housewives who flocked at a peak hour of half past four in the afternoon. As she pushed the trolley, she received a call from her twin sister. "Hello, Risa here," she said, stopping at the fresh produce section to see what was there to offer.

"Risa, how are you holding up? Got a new place already?" asked Riku on the other line.

"No, I'm still stuck at my boss' place. Saehara's doing his best at finding me another place, but the nice ones are really expensive!" she told her sister as she picked up a tomato.

"Yeah, the nice ones always are. You just hang in there, I'm sure there's affordable places in Azumano. By the way, who is this boss of yours? I never really had the chance to ask you."

"I think you might know him, Riku," said Risa as she placed the tomato into a paper bag before continuing to pick another. "Satoshi Hiwatari...does that ring a bell?"

Riku gasped loudly on the other line, which surprised Daisuke who was in the middle of sketching his latest project. "Hiwatari? That Hiwatari? The boy genius who hunted Daisuke like a hawk? He's still in Azumano? I'd think he'd migrate to England, or at least Tokyo – what with his crazy genius-ness."

"No, apparently he's still here," said Risa, taking another tomato. "He's still as cold, mean and unpredictable as ever. But he looks a lot different now, though. He's all grown up now."

"God, he must be really handsome now," said Riku, taking the call outside at the balcony as she didn't want her long-time boyfriend to eavesdrop on her girl talk with her twin sister. "And you're living in the same house as him!"

Risa heard her sister giggle on the other line. "Look, he is good-looking, but I'm not as gullible as I was when I was young, okay? I'm not some teenage girl who'd let a handsome guy steal my heart away," she said, referring to her younger self who really had her heart stolen by Dark.

"Sure, sure you are," said Riku, not convinced at the very least. "So, are you two still quarrelling like cats and dogs or have you kissed and made up?"

"K...Kissed?" Risa stammered as she continued to the canned section. "We're not really quarrelling anymore, but there was no kissing involved. I did have to make up for the trouble I caused him, though."

Riku laughed again, which was really getting onto Risa's nerves. "So, whatcha doing now? It's almost dinnertime where you are, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Risa, although there was only a fifteen minute difference between the two towns. "I'm making pasta tonight. What do you think I should add?"

"You're making pasta? Are you sure Hiwatari doesn't mind you using his kitchen?"

"No, not really. I kinda wanted to cook for him."

"Oho...my little sister is cooking for a man other than our father and Daisuke! This is by far the most interesting thing today!"

Risa groaned, putting a can of pasta sauce into the trolley. "I'm just being nice! I got drunk that one night and well...let's say I left some food stains on his carpet."

Riku laughed hysterically, knowing her sister's intolerance to alcohol. "Oh, that's rich! You probably passed out at the front door and Hiwatari probably carried you to your room!"

"Wha...what makes you think that?"

"You did the exact same thing after graduation, and Daisuke and I had to carry you back home. Of course, you don't remember any of that."

Risa blushed furiously as she picked up a packet of spaghetti and placed it into the trolley. "Well, you haven't answered my question! What do you think I should add to the pasta?"

Riku snickered as she turned around to face Daisuke who was still in the living room. "If I were you...I'd probably add some Mozzarella cheese, some mushrooms and of course, the secret ingredient!"

"What secret ingredient?" asked Risa. Her twin sister was the better cook, and she made the best bento boxes ever.

Riku had to hold back her laughter as she said the next line. "_Love_, my dear Risa-chan. Wear something sexy, okay?"

"Ohh!" Risa groaned as she quickly ended the call without bothering to say goodbye. 'That Riku! All she can think about is teasing me,' she thought furiously as she continued to look for some cheese and mushrooms. And she felt the blood rushing to her face when she imagined that Riku would probably spill everything to Daisuke, who was already staying with her. 'Ugh...God let me move out soon!'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Satoshi returned home later that night at five minutes past eight o' clock and inhaled the scent of pasta sauce cooking as soon as he opened the door. Taking off his shoes at the foyer, he didn't have to wait long before he heard footsteps coming his way, soft slippers making clapping noises against the polished wooden floor. He looked up to see Risa, out of her work clothes and wearing a white blouse, khaki skirt with a pink apron over it. He didn't remember owning any pink aprons, so he figured she must've bought it on her way home.

"Welcome home," she said with a gentle smile as he stood up straight and took off his coat. She was still standing there as he folded it, arms outstretched slightly as if wanting to accept the coat. Finding it a little odd, he handed her his coat and proceeded into the living room.

Risa scurried to the closet to hang his coat before heading back into the kitchen. Before that, she passed by the living room. "Dinner will be done in another ten minutes, so why don't you go freshen up?"

Satoshi relaxed into a couch and waved his hand. "That's okay, I just need some rest. Can I have a cup of coffee as well?"

"Alright," she replied, before she disappeared into the kitchen. Satoshi took off his glasses and began his ritual (or habitual) head massage. Although he was working overtime today, like four out of the six working days in his week, he couldn't help but feel comforted by Risa's presence today. 'I see how a man can get used to this,' he thought. 'Having a woman cook a warm meal for you and greet you when you return home from a hard day's work is rather nice. No wonder Saehara's so intent on getting married.'

'_That's exactly why you need to find yourself a woman and settle down, Hiwatari! You're a workaholic, and you're probably gonna work yourself to death if you don't find yourself a wife to return to._'

Satoshi's eyebrows furrowed upon remembering what Saehara had said to him once during his two-month stay at his apartment. He had waved off the young man as 'being ridiculous' and insisted that he was perfectly fine on his own, but then he remembered that he employed a housekeeper to keep his apartment clean (excluding his bedroom, of which why it was such a mess) and that he almost never ate at his own house, or had any regular meals thanks to his work schedule. It was Saehara who would drag him to the clinic if he came down with a fever, and now that his old pal (no, pal was too strong a word. Acquaintance, perhaps?) and ex-housemate was off to live with his dear wife, Satoshi had no one to really depend on when the need arises.

"Damn, that Saehara..." he mumbled softly, and as he raked through his hair in frustration, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. Turning to his left, he saw Risa looking at him, slightly bent forward as she withdrew her hand. Her apron was gone, too.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You don't look so well."

Satoshi closed his eyes and turned away from her. "I'm fine," he said, standing up to prove his point. "Is dinner ready?"

"Yes," she replied. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

They walked to the dining area right next to the kitchen, and as he sat at the head of the table. They picked up their forks and said their customary Japanese quote of '_Itadakimasu_' before beginning to eat. Satoshi swirled the lengthy spaghetti with his fork and took a bite of the Italian dish. Risa's right hand was stagnant as the fork was just in the spaghetti, watching his expression intently as he took the first bite.

Satoshi's eyes opened slowly after he swallowed, and Risa looked at him in anticipation. "So...how is it?" she asked, and she had tasted the pasta three times before serving it (which was why she took so long to cook it).

"It's...edible," he mumbled with his trademark poker-face.

Risa felt her grip on the fork tightening until her knuckles turned white. '_Edible?_' her mind screamed as her facial expression changed from nervous to downright furious. '_I worked like a slave to get it to taste this good and you say it's just edible?_'

Satoshi chuckled at the change of her aura and put the fork into the spaghetti a second time. "Just kidding," he said, his eyes twinkling like they were laughing at her. "It's good. I haven't had a homemade meal in ages."

Risa's grip on the fork (like it was a murder weapon) loosened slightly as she pouted at him. "You're such a meanie," she grumbled, proceeding to eat her dinner as well. Her happy mood was ruined by his joke, but it slowly returned to normal on her mood-o-meter as she watched him eat in peace. He took a sip of his coffee, and she took this chance to ask him what had been on her mind for the past day.

"I'm actually a bit embarrassed to say this," she began, and he turned to her to listen. "But I forgot that you were in Azumano Middle School, in the same class as I was, no less, until yesterday. I can't believe I didn't recognize you."

Satoshi nodded. "You don't have to be embarrassed, because frankly I forgot about you too. I suppose it's because we've grown up too much, and that middle school was so long ago."

"Back then, you were chasing Dark, weren't you? I mean, he was a thief and you were already a police commander at the time..." she mumbled away. "You even took me out to learn what being a girl was like...and you even dressed up as one. I was surprised you pulled it off."

Satoshi cringed at the memory. "It wasn't the most pleasant thing to do, but work is work."

"Oh sure, I know being in public with me wasn't pleasant at all..." Risa grumbled, her pretty face in a frown.

"I wasn't talking about that," he replied sharply. "I'm not into cross-dressing. Frankly, that was the first date I've ever been on, so I can't say it's completely unpleasant."

Risa blushed. "You've been confusing me since back then," she admitted, her cheeks growing redder by the second. "I mean, you've done all these things and I was really confused."

Satoshi's eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about, Harada-san?" he asked, even more confused by her words. "I don't understand."

It was then that Risa went through all the things that she remembered on the train, and she recalled each one half-stuttering half-composed, her eyes sometimes fixed on his gaze and sometimes down on her fingers that were intertwined under the table. Satoshi pushed up the glasses higher on the bridge of his nose as he finished listening to her stories.

'I did all those things to her?' he thought, trying to figure out why himself. 'Why in the world did I touch her hair...anyway, she needs an immediate explanation now.'

"Don't think so highly of yourself, Harada-san," he said. "I gave you my jacket when we were stuck in that trap because I was just being polite. It's not nice to let a girl be cold when she's stuck where she wasn't supposed to be," he said with sarcasm, which made Risa's eyes twitch. "And I fell asleep on your shoulder because we _were_ seated next to each other on the ferry, which I remember was decided by the teacher, not us," he continued, to Risa's utter humiliation. "Lastly, I touched your hair because you had a sea snail stuck to it. I didn't want you waking up screaming like the little girl you were."

Risa felt like wishing there was an earthquake right there and then; one that would swallow her whole.

Satoshi resumed his meal like the conversation never took place, but as he finished his meal he couldn't exactly remember _why_ he did all those things. Risa finished her meal as well, as just as he stood up she did as well, to clear the plates. "Hiwatari-kun," she said, which surprised him as she suddenly called him the way she would back then. "Since I'm already mortified to the point that I might just die right now," she said, plates shaking in her hands and her face as red as the tomatoes she picked earlier. "There's one more part in my fourteen year-old life that didn't make sense, and I think you might have something to do with it."

He turned to her, pushing the chair in. "Ask away."

"I remember following Dark and Riku to the museum. When they fell, all of a sudden I fell unconscious and when I woke up, I found your jacket over me with a white feather inside it. That was you, wasn't it? The one with white wings...because Daisuke-kun always said you were his opposite, Dark included."

Satoshi turned away from her. "Yes, Niwa is right. I'd assume he told you about our past, and I believe you witnessed both our transformations beforehand, but that's an old story that's already been settled," he told her. "Dark isn't coming back, and neither is my so-called 'other half'. Thank you for the dinner, Harada-san, but I'd like to return to my bedroom."

As he walked away, Risa didn't have the guts to call out after him. He was right, Daisuke did tell her and Riku about this and that it was all over, but Risa bit her lower lip as she heard the door to his bedroom close. 'I know who you were, but what I want to know is _why_ you saved me, when I practically knew nothing about you and when your other half could've easily killed me...'

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

_To be continued..._

A/n: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but this is a long one, no? Since both manga and anime is a bit different, I made it more based on the manga, except for the part where Risa and Riku had both witnessed him transform, like how it was at the end of the anime. I quite like that staring part they had at the ending. Hehe. Please review!


	5. A Little More Than Expected

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer: DNAngel belongs to Yukiru Sugisaki. There, I said it.

Author's Note: Thank you for all your reviews! It keeps me going with this fanfic. I'm going to make use of my two OCs Ayame and Suzuki in this chapter and the next ones, too. At this rate it might exceed the originally planned 7 chapters, but I think the maximum would be 10.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_Tuesday: A Little More Than Expected_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Risa couldn't sleep all that well that night, even after having an almost event-free dinner with her boss. Although the burning sensation on her cheeks had long disappeared when she decided to stay inside her room until morning, she found herself tossing and turning until she eventually drifted off to sleep due to fatigue. Surprisingly, however, she had gotten up earlier than expected; with her heart beating quickly as if she had a nightmare she couldn't remember about.

Since there was no point in going back to sleep, she got ready for work and upon going to the kitchen, Satoshi was already seated at the lounge area, comfortable on the high stool as he sipped on his morning cup of coffee. A stack of buttered toast was near him, and he turned to her as her footsteps slowed down; almost like they were hesitant to move forward.

"Good morning," he greeted, since Risa had been standing still like a statue for the past ten seconds.

She regained her composure before she made a complete fool out of herself like the day before. "G...good morning," she replied, her brain telling her feet to move and pour herself a cup of coffee before she lost whatever was left of her energy.

They sat nothing as Risa grabbed a mug and began spooning in coffee powder, milk and sugar before adding hot water, but when she turned around to stand on the opposite side of the kitchen lounge, Satoshi looked up from his mobile phone. "You're up awfully early today," he said. "And you didn't need three bloody alarm clocks. What a feat," he continued with sarcasm, but Risa wasn't in the mood to argue with him.

"Can I have some of that?" she asked, noticing that he didn't look too perky himself – there were mildly noticeable circles under his blue eyes - 'Damn him and his gorgeous, gorgeous blue eyes,' she thought and he nodded, pushing the plate towards her. She took one and bit on it without another word more.

Her subtle observation of Satoshi's dark circles revealed to her that the man himself didn't have such a good night's sleep either (not that Satoshi gets regular sleep, but he sleeps as much as an adult should, just at irregular intervals). He was, for a lack of better words, haunted by what she had said during dinner the night before – and it wasn't Krad; he's already gotten over that dark (no pun intended) past of his a long time ago – it was Risa's alleged 'confusing behaviour' of his during his teens. Although he gave very plausible excuses – that was what they were, excuses, and he couldn't verify to himself exactly _why _he did all those things to and for Risa.

They finished breakfast after ten or so minutes, and Satoshi was the first to break the heavy silence that weighed in the kitchen. "Why don't you come with me to the office?" he asked.

Risa turned to him in disbelief as she had just set their mugs and the plate into the sink. "What? That's okay, I can take the train..." she began, but he cut her off.

"We're going to the same place anyway," he reasoned. "And it looks like it's going to rain outside."

As much as she was going to regret it, Risa knew she preferred the warm, dry passenger seat of a Toyota Vios rather than walking in the rain and huddling with the train crowd. "Thank you for the offer then, Hiwatari-kun," she said meekly, and he got off the stool as she turned the appropriate kitchen switches off and grabbed her handbag that sat on the counter. She eased herself into the front passenger seat of Satoshi's car, and after the start of the engine the car was off into town for another day's work trip.

Satoshi didn't turn on the radio as they moved through the streets with relatively little traffic jams, and Risa clenched her hands over her lap as she felt the silence between them too overbearing. Riku herself had said, on more than one occasion, that between them, Risa was the more talkative and social twin. She knew what she had said yesterday about his past must've bothered him to some extent, and according to what Daisuke told her when she called him last night, Satoshi's relationship with Krad was not as friendly as his with Dark.

"I'm sorry," she finally said as Satoshi stopped at a traffic light junction.

"What for?" he asked, waiting for the lights to turn green.

Risa bit her lower lip. "For what I said last night...I didn't know that you didn't want to bring up the subject of your past," she said tactfully. "I wasn't thinking when I asked you all those things. I'm sorry."

Satoshi closed his eyes momentarily, hands still on the steering wheel. "You don't have to be sorry for all that, but I'll accept your apology. I've left all that behind me now, after all the curse on both Niwa's family and mine are lifted. We've settled everything that day, and frankly I'm glad it's all over. Funny how you came along and reminded that I was a part of all that insanity."

Risa merely gave a half-hearted smile as the car began moving again, and when the car stopped at the office she remembered she had another thing to worry about. 'Oh no,' she thought as they entered the car park complex. 'What if anyone else sees me with him? I can see the scandals flying around the office now...' She looked left and right at the rather empty parking space and observed for any colleagues that might be walking out of their cars. Finding none, she was temporarily relieved. They took the elevator together to their office, and as soon as she got in, the cubicles were still empty since it was only half past seven in the morning.

"Risa-chan, you're early today," said Ayame who was already at her seat.

"Ayame-san!" exclaimed Risa, but when Ayame noticed Satoshi coming in she stood up and gave him a bow of respect and greeted him.

"Good morning," Satoshi replied, before walking straight into his office without a word more.

Risa turned back to Ayame with a hand over her chest. "Don't scare me like that, Ayame-san," she mumbled, taking a seat as Ayame munched down on her breakfast of a simple ham sandwich. "You're pretty early yourself."

"I'm always early," the accountant explained. "I come here right after sending my five year-old to the kindergarten. Today is a surprise, I mean, you're always late, and suddenly today you're as early as me and the boss. Speaking of which, did you ride with the boss today or something? You two kinda came in together."

Risa felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "N...no," she lied, praying that God would forgive her for it. "I...took the train and we came up the elevator together."

Ayame nodded, taking in her lie word for word. "I see..." she mumbled. "Too bad it wasn't the way I first thought it was, that would've been very interesting. I mean, the boss could use a pretty, chirpy girl like you. He's just so serious sometimes, but lately he's been a lot less moody. Maybe it's just me, but maybe not, hmm?"

Risa didn't know what to say, but one thing was for sure; 'Ayame is definitely on the watch-out list. If she finds out I'm staying with him this week, I'm doomed,' she thought, turning her chair back towards her desk and switching on the computer.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sometime before noon, Risa's phone cum intercom rang as she was in the middle of sorting out documents in a folder. She set the folder down, pressed the button marked 'Boss' and picked up the receiver, resting in between her shoulder and cheek as she resumed her work. "Is there something I can do for you, sir?" she asked, grateful that she had a 'work mode' that switches on the moment she stepped into office.

"Get me a glass of warm water and two Tylenol pills from the staff pantry. And be quick about it."

From the stern tone of his voice she knew what he meant by 'quick' was 'drop whatever you're doing and go to the pantry – now'. "Okay," she answered, before she heard the click of Satoshi hanging up on the other line. Lips pulled into a frown; Risa placed the folder on her desk and put the receiver back to its place before pushing herself off the wheeled chair. Her newly bought slippers which she changed into after sitting at her desk earlier that morning made soft clapping noises as she made her way to the pantry.

Risa cursed after she grabbed a clean glass only to discover that the hot water dispenser was empty. 'Someone must've used it all up and forgot to boil more water,' she thought angrily. Setting the glass aside, she filled the dispenser and waited for the water to boil. 'Why are they still using this old, manual thing?' she wondered. 'They should really get those automatic ones that connect directly to the water pipe and refills by itself. This is Japan, for goodness sake.'

As she waited for the water to bubble, she noticed another person entering the small pantry with a mug in his hands. Suzuki's sullen face instantly brightened up upon seeing Risa there. She turned to look at him and gave him a half-hearted smile. "Sorry, you're gonna have to wait. This thing was empty when I came to get some hot water too," she told him.

"Oh...that's alright," he said, scratching the back of his head as his cheeks turned slightly pink. "I'll wait."

They stood there in silence, and while Risa was grumbling in her head about how Satoshi was going to probably eat her alive by the time she gets to his office, Suzuki was fumbling with the mug's handle, summoning the courage to talk to Risa. The moment they were introduced to her during that party for her last Saturday, he was already smitten by how pretty she was and all her gentle, ladylike ways. 'C'mon, dude,' he thought, tightening his grip on the mug. 'It's not like you've never asked a girl out before. You can do it!'

"Erm...Harada-san..." he mumbled.

Risa turned to him, wavy hair bouncing and her doe-like hazel eyes staring up at his tall, lanky figure. "Yes, Suzuki-san?" she asked.

"You know...if you're not too busy tonight I was wondering if we could..." he began, but Risa could tell where he was going with that. It wasn't like she never had any experience with men – she dated a few guys in university, but never got into any serious relationships with them. She looked away from him as the water was already boiling and she pressed a button to pour just enough to fill a quarter of the glass.

"Maybe go to the movies? Or maybe just dinner?" Suzuki finished, and Risa turned to him apologetically. It wasn't that Suzuki was a total turn-off, but her mind was already cluttered with finding herself a new apartment and it was only the second week of work – she didn't exactly feel like going on a date right then.

She walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and filled the rest of the glass with it. "I'm..." she began, searching the pantry cupboards and drawers for some Tylenol pills. "I'm going to have to think about that one," she mumbled, frustrated that she can't find the painkillers. "Do you know where I can find some Tylenol?" she asked.

Suzuki looked slightly disappointed, but he reached up to the upper cupboards and pulled out a container with lots of pills inside. "Here you go. Ayame-san keeps us stocked up with medications because half the department always have headaches and stomach pains. I'm not forcing you...if you don't wanna go, it's fine by me."

Risa's eyebrows furrowed as she tore the foil and plastic wrapped packet by the dotted lines. "No, no, I don't mean it that way..." she began, but her breath was cut short when another voice interrupted hers.

"Bloody hell, woman, does it take you an hour to get me something so simple?"

Satoshi stood at the doorway of the pantry, with a very pissed-off expression and clutching one side of his head; his hair slightly unruly as if he had disturbed it multiple times. Risa frowned at him. "Well, it's not my fault the department doesn't have an _automatic_ hot water dispenser," she retaliated, stressing on the word 'automatic'. She walked past Suzuki and handed Satoshi the glass of water and the two pills she tore off from the whole pack. "Here you go, sir, and I'd like to return to my work now."

Without another word, she simply walked past him and returned to her desk. Satoshi paid no attention to her and downed the Tylenol pills with half the glass of water. 'True, it's always difficult to get hot water when these idiots forget to refill the damn thing. Maybe I should ask Ayame to set aside some money for that...or maybe later. Damn this headache,' he thought. He raised his gaze to the slightly taller subordinate of his.

"Suzuki, if you have time to be asking Harada-san out, that means you have time to finish that overdue report of yours, am I right?" he said coldly, and oddly with a touch of bitterness not akin to the one when he spoke of Krad or Dark.

Suzuki only gulped as his boss was right – but he was only at the pantry to get a cup of coffee. "Yes, sir," he answered meekly, and Satoshi turned around to leave the pantry, and as the young inspector was left to stand all alone, he sighed at his fate of having such a cold but fierce boss.

Meanwhile, Satoshi returned to his office, where he leaned back on the large office chair, his arms on the armrests. He closed his eyes while waiting for the painkillers to take effect, and the room was completely silent, except for the sound of incoming calls, people walking and the heater in his office. Slowly, he heard raindrops fall against the window and it became heavier and louder. Deciding then that the headache wouldn't go away until he had some decent rest; he pressed the intercom button for Risa again.

"Yes, boss?" Risa asked; her voice sounding a little annoyed over the phone.

"Take all my calls and make sure no one disturbs me for the next hour."

Risa's eyebrows furrowed. Was he so unwell that he needed a nap just before lunchtime? "Okay," she replied, and after putting the phone back down, she took the 'Do Not Disturb' sign from the drawer of her desk where the previous secretary left it and hung it over the doorknob to Satoshi's office. After returning to her seat, she pressed a few buttons on her phone to redirect all of Satoshi's incoming office calls to her phone, but after doing just so she bit her lower lip.

'Is he really okay?'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Risa had already returned from lunch, which she had together with Ayame and some of the other women, by the time it was a quarter past one, and while the other ladies were out window shopping around the area, Risa returned to the office with the excuse of 'I've got a lot of work to do', and stood outside of Satoshi's office. She knew he had not exited his office since she last heard him over the intercom, and tentatively she turned the doorknob to his office. The department was practically empty anyway, save for the both of them.

The door swung open without a sound and she tiptoed her way inside, as quiet as a mouse. The blinds were drawn and the rain had already been reduced to a light drizzle. In the light that pierced through the slits in the blinds, she saw Satoshi asleep on the long couch that was in his office. His glasses was on the small coffee table near it, and his feet dangled over one side of the couch as it was not long enough to accommodate for his height.

Risa felt an inexplicable force that was drawing her towards him like a magnet, and as she neared him she knelt down, her knees grazing against the carpeted floor. Her eyes barely blinked as she watched him sleep – Satoshi Hiwatari was nowhere near the grouchy boss he was when he was awake; now that he was asleep there was a look of serenity on his pale complexion. His breaths were steady and she smiled as the bangs fell all over his forehead in his blissful sleep.

'He looks like an angel,' she thought, unable to control the contraction of her facial muscles. 'Do I really have to wake him up now?'

To her surprise, he began stirring in his sleep, and she was not aware that this was because he could smell her perfume (plus the smell of grilled beef from lunch) from such a close distance. As she backed away slightly, she watched as he didn't get up immediately but turned around to the other side, so that his back faced her. She gulped – she never noticed how broad his shoulders and back were. 'Oh, how nice it must feel to hug him from behind...' she unconsciously thought, before she realised what she was thinking about and mentally slapped herself for it.

He turned around again and faced her, his bangs falling sideways with gravity. He slowly opened his eyes and saw her, cheeks slightly pink and looking at him. She remembered that she had experienced seeing him in this half-asleep state before on that boat trip with the rest of the class. "Harada-san," he grumbled, feeling the blood pressure in him returning to normal. "What time is it?"

Risa briefly checked her watch in the dimness of his office. "About 1:20 p.m." she replied.

"That late?" he groaned, before forcing himself to sit up on the couch. She held back the urge to giggle, his hair was a mess – but not as bad as Daisuke's when he comes into the dining room with a dreamy smile upon sniffing pancakes that Riku made for breakfast on Saturday mornings. He raked through his hair and Risa stood up.

"I didn't want to wake you, but I guess I did anyway," she mumbled, feeling a little bit guilty.

"No, that's alright. Have you eaten?" he asked, combing his hair with his fingers.

"Yeah. What about you, Hiwatari-kun? Do you want to eat something? I could go out again and get something for you."

Satoshi got off the couch and walked to his desk. "No, don't trouble yourself. I'll go out and grab a bite," he said, before walking to the windows to draw the blinds. "Were there any calls for me?"

Risa frowned, because her instinct told her that Satoshi's definition of 'grab a bite' would literally mean 'a bite'. "There was just one call from your father, asking whether you'll be coming to see him and your mother this weekend."

Satoshi scoffed. He never really liked his adoptive father, even though after all the things they went through, he finally pulled himself together and had himself a wife to keep himself sane. He did fancy his new mother – she at least kept his crazy father from attempting anything stupid with his Hikari powers. Not that he had those powers anymore, but he could still paint very well, despite it being a long time since he painted anything.

"Thank you," he said, walking over to the door, looking at her with his piercing blue eyes as he did so. "You can get back to work now."

Risa nodded, although his gaze gave her the jitters, she turned around to watch him leave the office and she soon followed suit to return to her desk. She rested her elbows on her desk and held her chin with both her hands, trying to untangle the web of thoughts that was in her mind. Even though it hadn't been ten minutes since he left, the only thing she could think about then was him – how endearing he looked in his sleep; how his mere gaze makes her weak at the knees; how worried she was over his well-being.

"Ah, screw this!" she cursed out loud, ruffling her hair slightly with her hands in the process. "Let's just work, okay Risa? Work will get my mind off him."

As Risa picked up where she left off, she failed to notice that she wasn't alone in the office for the previous minute and just seconds later, the smirking Ayame Matsumoto walked into the office and returned to her seat next to Risa's. She readjusted her glasses and peered at Risa who was concentrating on her work like it was the most interesting thing in the world. 'I knew she wouldn't be able to resist the boss,' the accountant mused delightfully. "You're awfully hardworking today, Risa-chan," she commented as she 'woke' her computer up from it's hibernate mode.

"I'm always hardworking," Risa replied, still scanning through the reports. "Why are you back so early, Ayame-san?"

"Oh...I was just hoping to catch a bit of spark. Sadly I missed it."

Risa's eyes twitched as she ignored the accountant and went back to work. She could still feel Ayame staring at her, almost mockingly, and felt the shivers creep up her spine. 'I definitely need to watch out for her.'

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What you wish for can come true – and in Risa's case, hers did – a pile of work landed on her desk that afternoon, and she wasn't going to be able to leave the office until they were all done. "Take care, Risa-chan," Ayame said with a wink before leaving her desk to clock out at 5 p.m.

Risa merely smiled back at the older woman, and even after the accountant had left she felt like Ayame's hawk-like bespectacled eyes were always watching her. 'Why am I so paranoid?' she thought to herself as she arranged some freshly printed papers and stapled them together. 'It's not like Ayame-san knows anything...right?'

When she finished the final few letters that had to be signed by Satoshi, she attached them to her clipboard and entered his office after a brief knock on the door. She saw him sitting at his desk, reviewing some reports as she walked over towards him. "Here's the last of today's letters," she said, setting the clipboard down on his desk. Satoshi glimpsed at it and briefly skimmed through the contents before taking out his pen from the pen holder and signing it.

"I'm just about done anyway. Why don't you wait for me outside?" he said, after glancing at his watch which read 7:13 p.m.

Risa was surprised, but she wasn't going to turn down his offer the way she tried earlier that morning – after all Azumano wasn't like as she had it as a teenager; now that the town was growing bigger, so was its crime problems. "Alright," she replied, taking the clipboard back from him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said, and clicked on the 'Shut Down' button with his mouse on the desktop.

After exiting his office, she placed the letters into envelopes she printed out earlier and set them on the 'Out' stack on her desk. She, too, turned off her computer and by the time she was done, Satoshi had exited the office with his briefcase in one hand and a coat on the same arm. "Come on," he said, and Risa nodded, taking her handbag and slinging it over one shoulder before following him to the elevators.

Risa bit her lower lip as the rain began pouring down as they exited the car park. 'Great, it's raining _again_,' she thought bitterly. Satoshi's hand reached for a button to turn the radio on as they stopped at a traffic light.

"Good evening, listeners of Azumano FM – today we're having a bit of rain, but unfortunately the same forecast can be said for tomorrow. We might be seeing some sunshine on Thursday, so maybe we can get some our clothes dry by then," said the DJ, chuckling at his own attempt of a joke before resuming. "Anyway, for today's light listening, we'll be playing a chart-topping song by the popular group EXILE..."

Satoshi's face was stoic as ever as the car moved through the heavy rain. Risa was too tired to say anything at the moment, so she just eased herself in the large warm seat while listening to the song on the radio. The soothing voices of the group of talented singers were bliss to Risa's ears, and she felt herself closing her eyes to relax. Just before the song ended, however, Risa woke up with a start when the car swerved to the left so suddenly that had it not been for her fastened seatbelt, she would've definitely knocked her head on the glass.

The car came into a screeching stop, and she turned sharply to the driver with a look of irritation on her pretty face. "What was that for-" she began, but stopped mid-sentence when she saw Satoshi clutching his head with his hand in agony, taking in short and quick breaths as he did so. "Hiwatari-kun, what's wrong?" she asked, suddenly worried as she took off her seatbelt and leaned closer to him.

Satoshi pulled out his glasses and set them on the dashboard. Even as he looked at Risa, he couldn't see her clearly with the black spots that were occluding his vision. He closed his eyes and pulled the lever to lower his seat as much as possible. Resting on his makeshift bed, Risa repeated her question, which sounded like booming to his ears as he covered his eyes with the sleeve of his left arm.

"I'm having a migraine, damn it," he answered her question, feeling the wave of nausea coming over him. "Just shut up and get me two pills from inside the drawer on your side."

Risa's eyes widened. Although she was surprised that he suddenly had a migraine _now_ of all times, she wasn't surprised that he had one in the first place. He was always having headaches, she realised. Fumbling through the drawer, she found the tablet bottle and took out two pills to hand to him. He took them and swallowed them without the aid of any water, and he sighed loudly as she turned off the radio.

She kept quiet as he turned off the engine, leaving only the electronics and heaters of the car turned on, before resuming his position. "I'm going to sleep for a while, so don't make a sound. Feel free to go home by yourself if you want to."

In the throbbing, head-splitting sensation that was conquering his head and mind, he heard Risa shift uncomfortably in her seat. A few minutes later he heard the front passenger door open, along with the loud, incessant droplets of the rain outside and the sound of an umbrella opening. It was the rainy season, and Risa always had the foldable umbrella in her bag; but Satoshi felt his heart drop sullenly as he heard the door close. The pain wasn't helping him at all.

The sound of rain splattering all over the roof of his car and the trees above that was not making it any better – in fact the combined droplets on the foliage made heavier droplets that made even louder sounds as they slammed on top of his Vios. He didn't know where he was, but he was pretty sure he parked nearby a row of shops, and a train station should be nearby.

'Why am I thinking about that? Ugh, I should be concentrating on this damn migraine.'

Just as he was feeling the effect of the medicine he took slowly working, he heard the passenger door open again. 'Damn, I should've locked the door,' he thought, lifting his arm over his face to see what bloody idiot was going to point a knife at him and threaten him to drive off when he was having a bloody migraine. Even without Hikari powers, nobody would like to be around Satoshi when he was angry and in pain.

The door closed along after a swish of a closing umbrella, and he could smell Risa's floral fragrance even before he opened his eyes. "Harada-san, what are you doing here?" he asked, not even bothering to beat around the bush.

"I went to the pharmacy over there to get you this," she told him, holding up a plastic pack that had droplets of rain on it. She tore it open and pulled out its contents – an eye mask and two orange earplugs. "There's no way you can get any decent sleep with all this street and shop lights and the rain."

As he felt the synthetic fabric of the eye mask on his left hand, he was touched by what Risa had done. Why was she doing all of this for him? She could've easily took the train and gone home, but instead she chose to buy him these things that he would never need on a normal basis but was a life-saver at his current condition. 'Isn't this the Risa Harada you once knew and cared for?' his conscience told him. 'The one with the kind, selfless heart?'

"Good night, Hiwatari-kun," she said, and he felt one of those orange earplugs filling in his left ear and shutting out all sound. He groaned, of which she giggled and handed him the other earplug for him to put on himself. After placing the mask over his eyes, which completely blocked all light, he pressed the button to lock all the doors before easing himself into his chair to sleep. Risa smiled as he did so, wondering to herself how many times he had gotten himself into attacks like this, and who would've been the one taking care of him when it happened.

'I guess that was probably Saehara-kun's job,' she thought as she pulled the lever on her seat as well. 'There's no point in going home now, since I've decided to take care of him a bit.'

The fatigue of the day's hard work came crashing down on her as she felt the car much too comforting and the sound of rain becoming dull to her ears. The scent of Satoshi's cologne filled her nostrils (she believed he must've reapplied it sometime ago, otherwise it couldn't have been that strong) and she fell asleep on the seat beside him, her dreams filled with the sensation of flying and white feathers.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Harada-san, wake up."

Risa groaned in her sleep, wondering who the hell would be bothering her as she was comfortably sleeping. She shifted her head to the left and resumed her slumber, but felt a firm, strong hand on her right shoulder shaking her gently.

"Harada-san, we're here. Wake up or I'll leave you in the car until morning."

It was then that she remembered where she was and shot up from her seat immediately, turning right to see Satoshi already awake, and although he wasn't in agony, he still didn't look too well. "Oh my God, I fell asleep!" she exclaimed, noticing that the rain had stopped and they were somewhere still unfamiliar to her. "What time is it now?"

Satoshi pointed to the clock on the dashboard. It read 9:38 p.m. Risa sighed, but felt her stomach grumble since she was overdue for dinner. "Let's have dinner before we go back. I'm sure you're hungry, am I correct?"

Risa merely nodded, and as he got out of the car she quickly checked her complexion in the mirror. Luckily for her she hadn't been drooling while she was asleep, but she was in desperate need of a comb right about now. Raking through her hair quickly, she reached for a rubber band in her pocket and tied it into a loose ponytail, leaving her long hair over one shoulder before stepping out of the car.

The commander raised an eyebrow as she got out of the car with a new hairstyle. 'Women,' he thought simply, pressing a button on his car keys to lock his car. They walked into the simple Japanese restaurant and sat on the stools of the long table with the conveyor belt. Risa picked up the first _maki_ sushi she could find on the belt and grabbed a pair of chopsticks before saying, "_Itadakimasu_!"

Satoshi merely shook his head and helped himself to a plate himself. While Risa was finishing her third plate, he turned to her. "Harada-san," he began, still a little drowsy from the after-effects of the migraine. He was also a bit dazed as to why she ended up sleeping in his car when, once again, she could've just taken the train home.

She turned to him, looking up at him and he wondered how she was still single (he assumed she was, anyway) when she was so inexplicably pretty at that moment, even with her hair messy, her make-up wearing off and downing sushi at rates improper for a young lady. "Thank you. I might've sounded rude, but it was a migraine, so I can't help what I say."

Risa laughed at his words, her tired face brightening up. "You're welcome, Hiwatari-kun. I know a migraine is painful; one of my aunts has it. She becomes a withdrawn beast when she gets it, but I think you can't help what you say all the time."

"I guess you're right," Satoshi replied with a smirk, returning to finish his plate of sushi. It was odd, he admitted, sitting down next to her and eating in peace when he has never eaten with a friend, no less a _woman_, so casually for a long, long time.

They finished their dinner in the next half-an-hour, and Satoshi offered to pay for it. Even when Risa tried to refuse, he had already handed a few ten-thousand yen bills to the cashier, and she couldn't refuse any more as the cashier handed him back the change. She thanked him for it anyway and they returned to their apartment shortly after. Satoshi bid her goodnight and walked straight to his bedroom.

Risa went to hers as well and took a nice, long shower to freshen up before going back out to the kitchen. While she was brewing some tea, she decided to walk over to Satoshi's bedroom to see if he was okay. The door to his bedroom was left slightly ajar, and tentatively she pushed the door open, peeking through.

She had never seen Satoshi's bedroom before, since it was always closed or locked, and the fact that he told her to never enter his bedroom – but her curiosity over his state of well-being overwhelmed her mutual respect for privacy. 'After all, he's seen my bedroom before,' she thought defiantly. There were papers everywhere; on the floor, a stack of them on a desk beside his large king-sized bed, used shirts and trousers lying all over the other furniture in the room. She smiled. 'Well, it's good to know that the great Satoshi Hiwatari is still a man and not a god.'

Feeling braver, she pushed the door open wide enough to let her inside and closed it to its previously ajar state before walking inside his room. Although it was in darkness except for the light that peeked through from the hallway, she could still move about nicely as his bedroom had a balcony with large glass doors that allowed the pale moonlight to brighten the room. The darkest part of his room was still his bed, and she smiled as she watched him asleep on the bed like a baby, breathing slowly and clutching to the warmth of the blanket. He didn't even bother to change out of his work clothes.

Her heart froze when the mobile phone on his bedside table began ringing and vibrating. If he found her inside his room, she was as good as fired and homeless!

Satoshi grumbled in his sleep, picked up the phone only to press the red button to end any calls before leaving it there and turning away from the bedside table. Clearly he was sound asleep and Risa breathed out in relief.

'The poor guy,' she thought. 'He must've not gotten any good sleep these past few days, that's why he's so cranky and had that migraine.' A brilliant idea came into her head at that moment, and she tiptoed towards him. Picking up his mobile phone, she looked down at his back and smiled. 'Good night and pleasant dreams, Hiwatari-kun,' she thought, before quietly exiting his bedroom, closing the door shut as she went out.

Looking down at the electronic device now in her hands, she smiled, her eyes glowing with determination. She knew exactly what she was going to do with his phone.

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_To be continued..._

A/n: Another long chapter! Well, I covered the entire Tuesday, so there's a lot that happened in one day, no? My own experience of going to the pharmacy and finding that eye mask and earplugs set and visiting the police station and its office gave me some inspiration for this chapter. They have a pretty nice station here at the town I'm currently staying in. Anyway, enough about me, as usual reviews are greatly appreciated!


	6. It Rains Again

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer: DNAngel, its original story, the town of Azumano and its characters belong to Yukiru Sugisaki. I only own this fanfiction and the OCs in it.

Author's Note: Sorry for the slow update! Hope I didn't scare you by making you think I was going to go into another four-year hiatus with this story. It's just that I had assignments to be done and you know...life throws things at you. I hope this chapter does not disappoint!

P.S. From this chapter onwards, I'm going back to the Japanese way of naming someone, which is surname-first name.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_Wednesday: It Rains Again_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Satoshi woke up to an unfamiliar feeling of heat. It wasn't the kind of heat that you get when you wake up and find yourself having a fever, nor was it the kind of heat that you get for sleeping in the sweltering heat of the summer. He rose from his sleeping position slowly, and found that he wasn't sweating – but his surroundings were warm nonetheless. It was a kind of warmth; a small rise in temperature associated with a certain time of the day. Suddenly his low blood pressure was compensated by quick beatings of his heart as he kicked off the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. Looking at his bedside table, he found his ever-trusty mobile phone missing.

'Where the hell is my phone?' he thought in slight panic, as the phone's job was not only to receive or make calls, but also as an alarm clock to wake him up in the morning. He quickly put on his glasses and looked up at the clock on the wall. It read 12:15 p.m.

"Damn," he cursed out loud, realising that he had missed half a day of work, and after that he was off his bed and walking briskly into the living area to look for his phone. When he turned to look at the dining room table, he found the electronic device sitting still on top of a piece of paper. There was a plate of sandwiches wrapped in cling film just next to it. He walked over to the table and pulled the paper out from beneath his phone. The girly, cursive handwriting on the sheet was familiar to him, as he had seen it many times over the past week. It read:

_Good morning, Hiwatari-kun! Sorry I took your phone and left it here on silent mode. You need your sleep; otherwise you'd fall really sick. I made you some sandwiches, just pop it in the microwave and you're good to go. By the way, don't bother coming to the office today; I'm taking all of your calls and stuff. I've applied for a day's leave for you, too. So just rest up and get well soon. – Harada Risa_

Anger flared up inside him as he crumpled the paper with his right hand. Who the hell was she to tell _him_, her _boss_ what to do? 'Being a worry-wart is one thing, but being nosy is another different story,' he thought furiously as he tossed the paper into the dustbin and grabbed his phone before walking to his bedroom. There were 10 missed calls and nearly 20 unread text messages, some of them from the other police departments requesting an update on their current case.

"Damn that woman," he cursed, tossing the phone onto his bed. He disappeared behind the bathroom door for the next five to ten minutes to get ready for work, and once he was out he got dressed, grabbed his phone, car keys and suitcase before throwing on his coat at the front door. His Toyota Vios zoomed through traffic, his speed demon fuelled by the fury that was burning because of his secretary. Even though it was the lunch hour traffic, he made it to his office in record time, and did not wait a second longer before marching right up to the Crime Investigation Department.

He found Risa sitting down at her desk, a phone pressed against her left ear as she was typing something with her right hand and holding a piece of paper with the other. "Okay, thank you. I'll call you back at 2:15," she said to the phone before putting it down with her right hand. This was when she noticed that Satoshi had been standing near her. She looked up at him, and felt herself become nervous at his cold glare. "Hiwatari-kun...what are you doing here? I thought I..."

"What am _I _doing here?" Satoshi repeated while cutting her off, feeling his blood boil; his icy glare probably able to freeze if he wasn't human. "This is _my_ office! What were you thinking when you stole my phone and wrote that note? You are just my _secretary_; you cannot possibly think that you can order me around! I'll go to work when I want to, and I'll take _my_ leave when I want to!" he yelled at her. "Can you imagine how much work I have piling up now because I was away from the office for half a day?"

Risa was not someone to take insults so lightly, especially after going to college in a different course from her sister which left her alone to defend for herself. She pushed on the armrests and stood up to face him. "Oh, so because I'm _only_ your secretary, I can just leave you in your crazed workaholic state? You have 30 days of leave, accumulated from last year! You barely eat and you barely sleep, all you seem to do is work, work, and work! God forgive me because I was just trying to be a friend, and friends make sure you actually lived instead of just work night and day like a robot!"

She found herself gasping for air at the end of her screaming. "And if you want your secretary to be as much of a robot as you are, then you're better off looking for someone else! God! No wonder Ayame-san said the last one left in tears!" she finally shouted at him, before grabbing her purse and running out of the office. Risa was thankful that she was not wearing her office slippers, because she changed back into her heels when she expected to have a short lunch, just before Satoshi ruined it for her. She ran down the emergency staircase; tears blinding her descent. She stopped at the second floor, succumbing to her feelings of despair as she sat down and cried.

'God, I'm so stupid,' she thought as she covered her mouth to silence her sobs. 'I should've known he's just too intolerable!'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Satoshi still stood there at her table; minutes after Risa had unceremoniously run out of the door. He looked at her cluttered desk – it was even more heaped up with paper than usual, and the stack on her 'in' drawer was double the thickness of the 'out' drawer. On the desktop there was a half-written letter requesting for data from the recent narcotics raid at the port, and the button which directed all his calls to her phone was turned on. He also noticed a small stack in front of the desktop which had yellow Post-It notes on the front pages, and written on it was Risa's handwriting, which had the header of 'Summary of Report'.

The fire of his anger began to cool down as he saw the key points summarizing the reports that _he_ was supposed to read and sign. Obviously having such a summary would make his workload lighter, and he had to admit, he was amazed that Risa was capable of handling his calls, reports and do her own letter-writing, appointment-scheduling, inter-department memo-writing work at the same time – although judging by the stack she had, she was a bit left behind in her own work.

"Good afternoon, sir," said Ayame, who had just returned from the pantry with a cup of coffee.

Satoshi nearly jumped at her voice. The sneaky accountant had a way of creeping up like a mouse and suddenly announcing her presence in her loud voice. "G...good afternoon," he replied, trying not to look shaken. "What are you doing here, Matsumoto-san?"

She pointed to her desk, which was filled with a moderately high stack of papers. "I have my work cut out for me today," she said, referring to the audit of the department's expenditure for the past month or so. "What brings you here at lunchtime, sir? I thought Harada-san told me you were taking a leave?"

"I decided to go back to work," Satoshi merely replied.

Ayame smiled, walking back to her desk. "Not working makes you uneasy, is that it, boss?" she asked as she sat down and peered at the records on the computer with a calculator on her left hand. "Luckily for you, you have such a competent, hard-working secretary. She came in today and took all your desk work right off your shoulders. Honestly, it's rare to find such diligent young people nowadays. I guess it's our department's luck for employing her."

Satoshi suddenly felt guilty at the painful jabs of Ayame's words. It was as if she had witnessed the whole thing and was sarcastically giving him an advice. Even though he was Ayame's boss, she was still nearly ten years older than him and had been working in the department for a long time, so he respected her for that. Not waiting a moment sooner, he decided to head into his office, ignoring the look Ayame gave him as he turned around.

The programs loaded simultaneously as Satoshi clicked away mindlessly at the computer, and the words of the report sent by a secured inter-department email seem to blur as he couldn't concentrate on reading them. Closing the window of the web surfing program, he turned to the window with the blinds drawn and realised that it was raining again. He got up from his seat and watched as the rain poured onto the streets below. It only added the burden of guilt already weighing in his heart.

'Damn,' he thought, the voice of Risa's screams still ringing in his ears. 'First she makes me furious, and now she's making me feel like an utter fool.'

Peering through the blinds on the front window which connected his office to the outside cubicles, he noticed that Ayame was missing from her desk. Figuring that she must've decided to take a short lunch break, Satoshi decided that if he was going to go find and apologize to Risa, it had to be now. Turning to the cylindrical vase-like tube standing near one of the plants in his office, he pulled out the umbrella he kept there (in case it rained) and exited his office as quietly as he possibly could.

'I'm such a...what is they call it?' he pondered to himself as he pushed the 'down' button on the elevator, remembering the few times he had got into a quarrel with Saehara. Although he wasn't exactly as caring as Risa, the guy was his old housemate and did worry about his health and state of work quite a bit. 'A jerk? No wonder I don't have many friends.'

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"Harada-san?"

Risa looked up from where she sat at the emergency stairway, her head buried in her arms as she folded them over her knees. Staring back down at her was Suzuki, whose eyebrows were furrowed whilst holding a pack of cigarettes with his left hand and an umbrella on his right hand. She quickly turned away from him, embarrassed to be seen in this state. 'And my smudged eyeliner is probably making me look like a clown,' she thought as her cheeks flared up.

"Harada-san, are you okay?" asked Suzuki, keeping his cigarette box in his trouser pocket before crouching down to place a hand on her shoulder.

Risa buried her face again. "I'm fine, don't worry about me," she said, before sniffling. She gave an exasperated sigh and reached into her purse for a packet of tissues, and her lifesaver – a pack of portable make-up remover wipes. She pulled one out and placed the wet wipe over her eyes, removing the smudged eyeliner whilst still avoiding Suzuki.

"No, you're not okay," said Suzuki, sitting down beside her; setting the umbrella against the wall. "You're in tears and you're sitting at the emergency stairway. Did something happen?"

Risa sighed as she picked up a piece of tissue. 'This guy sure is persistent. Maybe this will turn him off,' she thought, taking two pieces of tissue and blowing her nose into it – emitting a rather unpleasant sound as she did so. To her disappointment, Suzuki didn't seem to mind at all that her eyes and nose were red and boggy from crying. "Suzuki-san, I...I don't want to talk about it. I mean, I just got here and I don't want to be the office gossip," she told him, interrupted by occasional sniffles. Her eyebrows furrowed after she said that. "Hold that thought...I'm going to be the office gossip anyway, except that I won't be here to live through it."

Suzuki was surprisingly receptive, even at her mindless mumbling – a characteristic of detectives, of which Risa forgot that one instant. "Did you get in trouble with Hiwatari-san?" he concluded. It wasn't difficult to guess, since the only trouble an office worker of the police department can possibly land in to get fired was to rile up the boss – who in her department was clearly Satoshi – and he had a reputation for firing a lot of people.

"It's that obvious, huh?" said Risa with a weak smile. "Say, Suzuki-san, how long have you worked with him?"

"About three years," replied the black-haired, brown-eyed man. "I was transferred here as soon as I was promoted to Assistant Detective. Even though technically Commander Hiwatari is my age, he really does seem a lot older, doesn't he?"

Risa smiled. 'He's right...even back in school Hiwatari-kun would always be sitting alone, because he was in middle school not because he had to be like everyone else, but because his father wanted him to be around kids his age,' she thought. 'Still...because he thought and acted like an adult nobody really understood him and...that includes me.'

"He may look and sound really strict, but I respect Hiwatari-san a lot," said the lanky Detective, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, he's only like that because we live surrounded by crime, and we don't exactly have time to goof off and chill when someone out there is getting drugged, raped or killed. He gets this hella busy department running smoothly, and to do that at his young age...it's kinda cool, don't you think?"

"I guess...you're right," said Risa, smiling a bit more as she nodded. 'How could I have been so selfish? Okay, so he's a workaholic, but he has reason to do so. I'm nobody to him; I shouldn't have butted into his life like that.'

"I came here because I wanted to smoke before grabbing a bite, but I guess that can wait. Have you eaten lunch, Harada-san?" asked Suzuki.

Risa shook her head. "No...I have a lot of work to do today."

"Oh man, don't do that to yourself," he said with worried eyes again. "Ayame-san will have a fit if you end up with gastric pains because you skipped your lunch. C'mon, I'll take you to the café across the street."

"No, that's not necessary..." Risa said, but he cut her off as he stood up and offered her a hand.

"I insist, Harada-san. My treat."

Risa looked up at him, a hand over her stomach. 'It's not only Ayame-san, Riku would probably have a fit too,' she thought, remembering her recurring gastritis which started after they started high school and things got busier. As is with twins, it was Riku who got it first, and not surprisingly Risa had the same condition months later. Plus, her tummy was grumbling, and she would dig a hole and hide her head in it if Suzuki could hear it growl. "Thank you, Suzuki-san," she said, accepting it.

"You're welcome," he said, pulling her up with a tug. "By the way," he began as they descended the stairs to the fire exit. "There's a lot of people named Suzuki in this building. Why don't you just call me Hideo, since we're the same age and all?"

Risa stopped just as Suzuki, whose first name was Hideo, opened the door with a push of the lever; revealing the ground floor outdoor parking area and how heavily it rained outside. "Then...I'll call you Hideo-kun, is that okay?" she said, feeling a little uncomfortable that she's already on first-name terms with a guy she knew in less than a week. 'But he's a nice guy, besides I don't like being called Harada-san whenever Riku's around,' she reasoned with herself.

'But Riku's not around right now,' her conscience retaliated.

"You can call me Risa," she told him as he opened the umbrella that was large enough to cover them both. "I have a twin sister, so back then we didn't like people calling us by our surname because we didn't know who they were referring to."

Hideo's face brightened up as he held the umbrella upright and they stepped into the rain. "You have a twin, Risa-san?" he asked, giving the newly established first-name basis a try.

Risa nodded, easing herself into his friendliness as they walked towards the front gates. "Yeah. Although we look the same, we like totally different things. She's in Fukuoka right now, living with her fiancé."

As the rain eased slightly whilst the two walked down the street, Risa found herself talking to him about her family (though not in great detail) and things like that, and they conversation continued over lunch in the cosy, warm café with two steaming mugs of coffee and two sets of lunch. "So that's what happened," said Hideo after he finished sipping his coffee. "I'd expect Hiwatari-san to be furious at you. I called him during one of his naps and he glared at me like he was going to eat me when he came to the office."

Risa frowned. "So you're the ones who got him overworked?"

"No, no! It was an emergency call, I swear!" said Hideo, hands up in surrender.

The secretary merely shook her head, brown tresses bouncing as she did so before she poked her fork into the spaghetti she ordered. With a bitter smile, she rolled the spaghetti around her fork as she remembered that dinner just two days ago. "Do you think he'll fire me?" she asked Hideo. "I mean, I was just asking to be fired, wasn't I?"

The detective chuckled. "That'll be up to Hiwatari-san, but I sure hope he doesn't. You're a really nice person, Risa-san."

Risa smiled. "Thanks for the compliment...but whatever did happen to the previous secretary? Ayame-san said that she left in tears. I'd better expect a pink slip soon, since I must've been worse than the last one."

"Oh, you mean Sayoko? God, that woman was poison. I don't know why Ayame-san spared you the details, but that secretary...if you can call her one – was all goody-two-shoes and hardworking when she first came in, and then she started to show her true colours when she began flirting with the higher-ups and started neglecting her work. I'm sorry to say this, but most of the department guys thought you were going to be like her. Well, Ayame-san and I didn't, though. We have faith in you."

"I'm flattered," she said with a giggle. "But why did she leave in tears, then?"

"Well, Hiwatari-san is popular with the ladies, and naturally she tried to flirt with him too. When you add up all her bad behaviour and her trying to weasel into Hiwatari-san's good side, the Commander just couldn't take it anymore. He fired her, so she was angry and he...said some nasty things. And it's not easy to come by with good secretaries in Azumano, since our employment rate is pretty high. The job was open for a month before you came to answer it. Of course there were candidates before you, but Hiwatari-san wasn't as impressed as he was with you, I guess."

Risa nodded. "I see, so that's the story," she mumbled, feeling a bit sad as she took a bite. Hideo chuckled again.

"You know, Risa-san; Commander Hiwatari is a lucky man," he said.

"Why, because he has a nice car and a lavish apartment?"

"No...wait a minute, how do you know he lives in a lavish apartment?"

Risa gulped. She had to think of an excuse quickly before her cover was blown. "Uh...I just thought he would, since you know, he's a single rich guy."

Hideo nodded. "You have a point there. Anyway, it's because you worry so much about him. If you were just a secretary, you would've just done your job and ignore his lack of sleep and insane work habits. But instead you risked your job for his sake..."

"Well...he is our boss. Wouldn't want him to get sick and cause chaos in our department," Risa said with a nervous tone. Once again she forgot that she was talking to a detective who was used to identifying liars and breaking them down.

_No, Risa-san...the way you worry about him is genuine. Almost like you're..._

"Honestly, now I'm jealous," he finally said. "I would like a pretty secretary to worry about me too."

Risa giggled. "So now you're showing _your_ true colours, Hideo-kun," she said slyly, before looking down at her watch, which showed five minutes past 2 p.m. "Oh my God! It's already 2? I have to get back to work!"

Hideo stood up and paid for the meal while Risa waited outside the café just as the rain began pouring again. She held the umbrella as he rushed out with the receipt, and together they crossed the street to the police department again. The rain unleashed its full blast just as Risa and Hideo made it to the front doors.

Unbeknownst to them, a lone umbrella stood upright just metres away from the café they exited from, and underneath it was the blue-eyed Commander with a poker-faced expression across his handsome features. However, behind that perfected mask was the boiling green blood of envy snaring through his veins and capillaries. Satoshi's grip on his umbrella tightened as he remembered watching her laugh just before she realised she was late for work; too engrossed with her lunch date to not notice he was standing there watching her.

For the first time in ten years, he could hear Krad's mocking voice in his head, like a conscience.

_And that's why, Satoshi – the Hikari are cursed and you will accompany me in this solitude I've endured for the past four centuries._

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Ayame, in all her creepy ninja-like stalking manoeuvres, had a very maternal side to her as she rushed to the pantry and magically reappeared beside Risa's desk with a towel. Risa happily accepted the towel and began drying her hair and purse with it, and changing into her slippers as her heels were soaking wet. She picked up the phone and resumed her work, and even as Satoshi came back half an hour later, a lot more dry than she had been; Risa ignored him and continued her (and his share of) paperwork, not knowing that he had spent the past hour driving around town with his car in attempt to make it look like he had been away on something and just came back from it, with his umbrella in hand.

Satoshi left work earlier than he usually would, clocking out at 5 o'clock. Risa was surprised to find all the reports she handed to him signed and stacked on his desk even though he didn't say a word to her when she entered his office. Hideo had offered her a ride home when he was clocking out earlier, but she didn't want him to wait for her so she politely declined. Risa finally completed her own work at seven, and went back by train.

The lights were already turned on at Satoshi's apartment when she returned, and she managed to grab something at the convenience store to pop into the microwave on her way back from the train station. As she set the plastic bag down on the kitchen counter, she noticed Satoshi coming into the kitchen as well.

"I'm...home," she said meekly, unsettled with the heavy air between them.

"Hn," he replied, whatever the sound was supposed to mean. Risa wasn't even angry at him anymore – she knew that he had every right to be angry at her. He passed by her and reached for the coffee-maker to pour himself a cup. Risa held onto the plastic bag, unable to take the suspense any longer.

"I'm sorry, Hiwatari-kun. I was just worried that you were going to overwork yourself and get really sick. Your migraine yesterday scared me; it really did. You looked like you were in a lot of pain, and I didn't want it to happen to you again," she said in one breath. "I know...I'm such a busybody. Saehara-kun called and told me he found a really good place for me, so I'll be out of your hair soon. And I can turn in a resignation letter for you in the morning, and I'll come over to the office to pack my things..."

"You really are Harada Risa," Satoshi said, cutting her off before putting the coffee jug down and adding a bit of sugar to curb the absolute bitterness. Risa turned to look at him. "Although it's nice to know you'll be moving out soon; I would not want to have to put another ad in the newspaper for 'Secretary' just when it's been filled in for not even a week."

Risa's eyebrows furrowed. "That means...I'm not fired?"

"Yes, if I haven't made that clear enough already. I accept your apology, although I guess I'm partly to blame. I should have known that friends do care of each other's wellbeing. Saehara used to do that for me, but he waned off a little when he met his wife."

Risa couldn't resist the urge to laugh. Satoshi's eyes twitched in annoyance, although he was pleased to her laughing again. "Goodness, Hiwatari-kun...you really do need more of us. That's what friends are for. We're not asking to be paid for it, too," she said, putting her dinner into the microwave and pressing a few buttons to set the timer.

As the dish rotated in the electric contraption, Satoshi finally spoke up after downing half his cup of coffee and leaning against the counter, watching her. "Thank you," he said with a smile.

Risa blushed; because it was at this moment she realised that he had not been wearing his glasses. "Huh? No, I should be the one thanking you. You gave me a place to stay and you gave me a job, even though I screwed it up a little..."

"No, you didn't screw it up. Of course, what happened this noon was not pleasant, but you reminded me that I'm human. And you summarized all those reports – thanks to that I was actually able to leave early. It'd be a waste to let you leave."

Risa placed her hands on her hips. "I'll take that as a compliment," she said. "Anyway...Saehara-kun said he'd be able to accompany me to the apartment at lunchtime tomorrow. Apparently it used to belong to his wife's friend."

Satoshi merely watched as she continued talking about Saehara's wife, Miyu, and as she opened the microwave door and took out her warmed-up dinner whilst _still_ talking. As much as he hated admitting it, having someone in his house was a lot more pleasant than he initially thought. When Saehara was his housemate, he made the house lively with his stupid jokes, yelling loudly as he cheered on the baseball or football games on television and sometimes dragging Satoshi out to eat at the most 'un-Satoshi' of places, but had great food nonetheless.

Now that Risa was staying in his house he was getting used to her presence. Whenever she walked down the hallway when his door was ajar, he could smell her fragrance from whatever products she used; and his once rather useless but well-equipped kitchen had become her battleground to concoct a surprisingly good dinner, his refrigerator actually had more than bottles of water now, and he was getting accustomed to having her in his home – even if her face was free of makeup (he assumed she wasn't self-conscious enough to be wearing it even in the house) she was still beautiful, and knowing she'd be there actually made him _want_ to go home.

"I'm sorry," he said as he left his train of thoughts. Risa was surprised when he said it. Hearing Hiwatari Satoshi say 'thank you' and 'sorry' in one day was quite the feat, apparently.

"For what?" she asked.

"For making you worry about me. Even if you're a friend, I shouldn't have made you worry."

Risa shook her head before she grabbed a mug and poured herself some coffee. "Like I said, that's what friends are for."

'Friends...huh?' Satoshi thought, feeling dissatisfied; the image of her laughing at her lunch date with Suzuki Hideo. "Still, I didn't think you'd take a convenience store packed food home. I thought you would've...gone out to dinner or something," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. Luckily for him, Risa didn't notice the odd tone in his usually calm voice.

"Ah...well, Hideo-kun – I mean Suzuki-kun offered, but I declined," she said as she brought her dinner to the lounge table and sat down to eat. Satoshi didn't budge from his spot, eyes twitching again.

'So now they're on a first-name basis?' he thought in envy, and felt his grip on his coffee mug tighten. Luckily for him it didn't have the chance to break when Risa continued.

"He's really nice and all, but he's not really my type," she said, before popping some rice into her mouth.

Satoshi's grip on the mug relaxed a little, and he walked over to the lounge, not taking his eyes off her. "Oh man, why did I tell you that? It's not like it concerns you," said Risa, laughing embarrassingly. The blue-eyed Commander set the mug on the lounge and leaned his crossed arms on the marble surface, staring at her.

"What if it does concern me?" he asked her, expression still poker-faced but his eyes telling her he was dead serious.

Risa felt her heartbeat quicken. He was standing – leaning was the more correct word – way too close for her comfort. 'Dear heavens, he's gorgeous,' her mind screamed as she could feel his breath on her face. She felt like she was drowning in the pools of his deep blue eyes. "W...Why should it concern you?" she retaliated defiantly, her eyebrows furrowed.

Satoshi blinked once, and a smirk grew on his lips – serving only to make Risa's heart feel like it was going to burst. His lips were only inches away from touching hers, and Risa already closed her eyes in anticipation. "You're right," Satoshi said suddenly. "Why should it concern me?" he said, withdrawing from her and picking up his mug. Risa felt her face burn and her heart sink into her stomach as he brought his mug and walked away from the kitchen.

"Good night, Harada-san," he said, glancing sideways to look at her with the smirk still on his face.

When Risa heard the door to his bedroom close, she pressed a palm against her chest, breathing heavily. 'Oh Risa, why do you always fall for those you can't have? Why can't you fall for someone nice like Hideo-kun...oh no, wait just a minute! Did I just say...or think...I fell for Hiwatari-kun?'

Risa looked down at her dinner, which a minute ago was the most appetizing thing in the world to curb her growling tummy, but now all she felt like was pushing it aside and brooding about _what the heck just happened_ in the confines of a warm, cleansing shower.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_To be continued..._

A/n: (dodges tomatoes) The almost-kiss was inspiration hitting the back of my head while I was figuring out how to end this chapter (while procrastinating on one of my due assignments). Suzuki (who I named Hideo) is now showing some real role of making Satoshi jealous. Krad isn't really there, it's just a personification of his 'mocking conscience'. Yes, when this sexier, adult Satoshi is jealous he doesn't brood about it. He gets revenge. And revenge is sweet. (evil laughter) I hope it isn't out-of-character of Satoshi, though...because I thought if he could tempt Dark as a woman, he could tempt Risa as a man.

Something big is coming up next chapter, so look out! The climax is near as the week ends and so will the ending!

P.S. I notice that they drink a lot of coffee in this fic. It's something I think adults do, even though I don't drink much of coffee myself.

**As usual, reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	7. One Week, and the Rains Lift

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

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Disclaimer: DNAngel, its original story, the town of Azumano and its characters belong to Yukiru Sugisaki. I only own this fanfiction and the OCs in it.

Author's Note: Sorry for the late update – had assignments and an upcoming exam. Honestly, people, I am flattered by all your reviews and favourites on this story. Especially flattered by those who added me on 'Favourite Authors' – it makes me feel all fuzzy and loved. Much love to y'all! I'll strive to write more with improvements each time, and I'm feeling a bit sad that this story is coming to an end. Don't worry, that won't mark my retirement from the fanfiction world. While I'm active in writing Kingdom Hearts, I would like to write for another anime/manga series after DNAngel.

Feel free to give suggestions of any pairing in any anime/manga in your reviews – maybe it'll give me enough inspiration to write a new fic after this one is complete.

Enough about that, onto the story!

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_Thursday: One Week and the Rains Lift_

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Harada Risa woke up to the sound of her blaring alarm clock. Even though she wasn't complaining of back pains like an old woman, she groaned loudly after slamming the alarm clock's 'off' button, suddenly wishing that she didn't have to go to work today. The screen of her phone lit up as she checked it, and when she saw the day she was mildly surprised. With all the hectic mess that has been going in her life, she didn't realise that a whole week had passed since she started working.

Briefly she opened an unread message sent by Saehara earlier that morning. 'This guy sure gets up early...' she mused as the screen displayed his short message.

_Yo, Harada-imouto! Miyu & I will come pick u up at d police station at lunchtime. Won't take long, since ur new house is not far. C ya!_

Risa breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she won't have to catch the train during lunch hour – which was only second to the 5 p.m. rush on the 'hectic ratings'. She forced herself off the bed and pulled the curtains back. To her relief, it wasn't even cloudy as the blue sky greeted her with its warmth and sunshine. She promptly got ready for work, but remembered what happened the night before as soon as she was about to pull the door to her bedroom open.

'Oh no, what if Hiwatari-kun is outside? God, this is so awkward,' she thought with a flush on her cheeks as she remembered the feeling of _almost_ being kissed by him.

_Oh, c'mon Risa; Saehara-kun already found you a place. You can just move your butt out of this house as soon as you sign the papers and pay up, and you won't have to see Hiwatari-kun again...except when you're working. _

Risa's shoulders slumped at the last part her conscience added to the statement. Still, she wasn't going to quit now – not when she was (basically) given a second chance by her boss. "You're just going to have to face it like a grown woman. Pretend it never happened. Yes, that's it; pretend it never happened," she mumbled to herself in effort to motivate herself. Her bedroom swung open with a creak and Risa stood proud and tall, walking towards the living room like she owned the place.

"Good morning, Harada-san."

A jolt of electricity ran down her spine at the sound of the suave voice calling her from the kitchen lounge. She could feel the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand as she slowly turned her head towards the kitchen. Sure enough, Satoshi was sitting on one of the lounge stools, sipping on a cup of coffee and helping himself to some croissants which he bought yesterday and warmed up for breakfast. To only add clutter to Risa's already haphazard brain, he was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and a draped, untied white necktie around his neck; several of the buttons on his shirt that seemed almost _purposefully_ undone. At least, that's what she thought.

"G...good morning...Hi...Hiwatari-kun."

Satoshi merely smirked as he turned back to his coffee. Obviously he was enjoying the effect of his simple but not-too-subtle actions on Risa. "Come, have some breakfast. I do not want you keeling over with gastric pains before lunch."

Risa's eyebrows furrowed as she slowly approached him. "How...did you know?"

"Matsumoto-san told me," he told her nonchalantly. "Go ahead and help yourself."

Risa stood at the opposite side of the lounge, the one connected to the kitchen, looking at the plate of croissants like they were piranhas that would bite her fingers off. Tentatively she reached for one and picked it up as Satoshi flipped through the papers. His other hand pushed the butter plate towards her, and she didn't say a word as she buttered the croissant.

As she ate her breakfast in silence, Satoshi was finishing his cup of coffee. "Are you coming to work with me today?"

The clock in the living room ticked away with its face showing 7:13 a.m. as a heavy silence fell on the two in the adjacent kitchen. "I..." Risa began, trying to find herself an excuse not to be in an enclosed space in a moving vehicle with him for the next 20 minutes. "I'm not finished with breakfast yet," she said lamely, before adding a mental slap to her head. Well, she hadn't poured herself a cup of coffee – but the office was well equipped with coffee-making tools, so yes, her excuse was still invalid.

"Alright then," he replied, voice without any hint of disappointment or sarcasm. "I'll see you in the office then. Don't be late."

Satoshi got off the stool and grabbed his coat off the counter. "Wait," Risa said quickly as she wiped her hands quickly on a cloth hanging by the pillar. He stopped and turned to look at her, and she stood in front of him, pointing at his unmade tie. He said nothing as he lowered his forearms, allowing her to step closer to tie his necktie for him. As she did so, he looked down at the top of her head, the tip of his nose millimetres away from touching her soft, honey brown hair. Surprisingly, they smelt a lot like jasmine flowers. The scent filled his nostrils and intoxicated him that he could've just kissed the crown of her head right then and there, but –

"There, all done," said Risa while looking up at him. Feeling his gaze upon her, she took a step back, cheeks a little flushed. "See you later, Hiwatari-kun."

Satoshi nodded slowly before throwing on his coat as he walked to the door. Risa watched him put on his shoes at the doorway, and when she thought he wasn't aware, he turned sideways once to catch her in the act. Briskly she darted back into the kitchen to pour herself some coffee. The Commander couldn't help but give a little snigger before leaving the house. As the doors closed shut, Risa breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Risa, you idiot! You're so stupid, stupid, stupid!" she muttered to herself as she took the mug with one hand and knocking herself lightly on the head with the other. "Of all the times to turn into a lovesick teenage girl...you're 25 for heaven's sake!"

Exasperated, she breathed out a dissatisfied sigh before pouring herself some coffee and spooning in cream and sugar appropriately. 'Saehara-kun, I'm counting on you to get me out of this house...' she thought defiantly as she sipped the lukewarm coffee. '...before I go crazy because of Hiwatari-kun!'

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Some five minutes after noon, Saehara Takeshi sneezed as he stopped at a traffic light junction blocks away from the police department. Miyu, his wife turned to him and pulled a tissue out and he turned his head slightly, letting his newly-wed wife wipe the bit of snot that escaped his nose. "Takeshi, are you okay? Don't tell me you've gotten the spring flu?" she asked worriedly.

"No, nothing like that, Miyu-chan. I have a feeling that Harada-imouto must've been talking about me," he said, sniffling once. "She must either be really excited to see the new apartment, or really desperate to get away from Hiwatari-kun."

Miyu tossed the used tissue in the small bin she prepared in their cute little blue Suzuki Swift. "I must say, I didn't think Hiwatari-san was such a kind man to let Harada-san stay in his house this long. I mean, you had to beg him on your knees to get him to rent out that spare room of his."

Takeshi laughed, putting the gear on 'D' as the lights turned green. "I told you, Harada-imouto is something else. He probably was charmed by her, the same way the whole school was back then."

"Including you?" Miyu asked, narrowing her brown eyes suspiciously.

Her husband laughed again, this time a little more nervously. "Oh c'mon, Miyu-chan; Harada-imouto is pretty...but you know that no one is prettier than you in my eyes. I'm a lucky man to have you as my wife."

Miyu instantly brightened up, her round cheeks obvious as she grinned, just as the blue sub-compact car stopped at the entryway to the police station. Takeshi lowered the window next to him to talk to the guard standing by at his post. "I'm here to pick up a friend of mine working here," he told the guard.

"Okay, Saehara-kun," said the guard, who knew him as Saehara was quite the journalist in Azumano – getting the latest scoop of any crimes happening in town.

The car stopped near the entrance where Risa saw them coming. After parking the car, Takeshi and his wife got out of the car to greet Risa. "Hey, Harada-imouto!" said Takeshi as the brown-haired beauty neared them. "Ready to go see your new house? Oh, and before I forget, this is my darling wife Miyu. Miyu, this is Harada Risa."

The two ladies bowed to each other in respect. "Takeshi's told me so much about you, Harada-san," said Miyu, her curly shoulder-length black hair bouncing as she stood back upright.

"Please...just call me Risa. We're about the same age, aren't we?" said Risa in modesty.

"Okay, Risa-san. Then you can call me Miyu. And since Takeshi's the same age too, why don't you call him Takeshi?"

Risa smiled. True, even if she wasn't exactly best friends with the journalist, they had been in touch for a rather long time. "You don't mind, Miyu-san?" she asked, and the petite woman shook her head.

"Hey, I thought you should ask me that question, Harada-imouto," Takeshi interrupted. "So I can call you Risa-san too, right? Awesome, now I won't need to confuse the Harada twins any longer."

With mirth, they got back into the car, and Risa adjusted herself nicely at the back seat. Momentarily she remembered what happened at the office before she came down. A few minutes before lunchtime she had walked into Satoshi's office to hand him a few papers before leaving for her lunch break cum house viewing. Apparently he was going to sit in his office throughout the entire two lunch hours, but he promised Risa that he got someone to buy him food before she left to meet the Saehara couple.

"Takeshi told me you used to live in Azumano...in a big mansion by the cliff," said Miyu, breaking Risa's trance.

"Yeah," Risa admitted. "My parents are insanely rich, but my sister Riku and I decided to be independent. Besides, the mansion was so big it felt...empty."

"I gotta hand it to you, Risa-san," Takeshi said with a grin as he drove them towards the apartment complex not far from the police department. "I thought you were going to be spoiled rotten for the rest of your life."

Risa shrugged. "Yeah, we're all glad I didn't end up that way, aren't we?"

"Anyway, Risa-san, you're going to love this apartment. My friend kept the place in good shape, so you don't have to worry about paint jobs or any leaks – but it is a bit dusty now. It's just nice enough for one or two to live in. Plus, the neighbours are nice people, and it's pretty safe since it's so close to the PD."

When they arrived at the apartment complex, which was only a five minute drive from the police station, they took the elevator to the 5th floor. Miyu took the keys and opened the apartment, before hurrying inside to open the curtains and windows. Risa stepped inside and looked around with satisfaction. Although it was nowhere as lavish as Satoshi's apartment, Risa found the house to be comforting and cosy. The large sliding glass doors greeted her as soon as she stepped into the living room, and it led to an adequately spacious balcony – one big enough to put a lounge chair and plant some flowers.

The house was empty of any furniture, and she walked towards the left to find a kitchen with a four-stove set and oven joined to polished wooden countertops and cabinets above her – more than enough for stacking food. There was a sink built into one of the countertops and some space for a fridge at one corner of the kitchen. She could already imagine the furniture and electronic goods she was going to buy as she had a clear view of the living and dining area from the kitchen.

"There's two bedrooms here, so if you have guests over it won't be a problem," said Miyu, showing her to the master bedroom. The room was about the size of the one she was currently staying in, only that the walls were painted a light shade of pink and a large window facing the same direction the living room balcony was. "There's a built-in bathroom here, and enough space for a wardrobe," said Miyu as Risa stepped into the bathroom, which had a bathtub with a shower, sink and toilet.

"Do you happen to be a real-estate agent, Miyu-san?" asked Risa as she closed the bathroom door.

Miyu giggled. "Actually, yes, but I deal with paperwork. I don't usually come out to the field," she explained. "When Takeshi first said he was looking for a house for a friend of his to stay in, I had thought he meant a guy, which is why when I realised it was a girl, I had to research a little deeper. So what do you think of this house?"

"It's perfect," Risa said. "And it's not too far from the police station, so I won't have to take the train."

Miyu pulled out some papers from the folder she had in her large handbag and showed them to Risa, explaining the details of the payment. "Once you sign and stamp this contract, I'll call the gas and electricity company. If there's any defective bulb or pipes, don't hesitate to call me or Takeshi."

"Thanks," Risa said with a smile, looking over the contract and breathing a sigh of relief – the price was affordable and she still had furniture to buy. She signed the contract and placed her name stamp onto it, and shook hands with Miyu.

"Do you want me to call the movers to help you move your things?" she asked.

"No, that's all right...I didn't bring a lot of things from Fukuoka," Risa said as they moved towards the exit.

"You ladies done? I'm starving!" wailed Takeshi from the front door, since it was lunch time after all.

The two of them laughed before following the hungry journalist. The Saehara couple walked ahead of Risa, talking about which restaurant they should go to – before getting into a debate between western and Chinese food. Risa looked back at the locked apartment door for a moment, her heart sinking slightly as she bit her lip, before catching up to the other two.

_Looks like I'm finally getting out of that house._

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was about forty minutes before 2 p.m. and Hiwatari Satoshi sat alone in the documents room, opening files that were related to his current case regarding a drug ring involving some of the worst yakuza groups in Japan. The room was at one corner of the west wing of the seventh floor, which occupied a rather lot of space since it was an important room. Uncharacteristically, he blew a sigh that ruffled his bangs as he flipped the papers printed from some fifteen years ago.

He was alone in the documents room, save for the security guard who was on duty way up front at the counter. The room was equipped with CCTV surveillance, and despite many prying eyes at almost every angle, he felt at peace with the silence of the room, coupled with the cooling breeze of their air-conditioner – a godsend on that particularly blazing summer day.

_It looks like she's leaving soon..._

Satoshi's head slowly rose from the document he was reading at the desk by the windows covered by blinds. 'It's not like that's important,' he retaliated to himself. 'She'll still be working at the office, and I'll still see her everyday. Well...almost everyday.'

_Still, you have to admit it, it was...interesting to have her around._

With a frustrated groan, he took off his glasses and set it on the table before massaging his temples slowly. 'Good God, Hikari Satoshi, get a hold of yourself!' he chided himself. 'Focus...there's a case to be handled; you're not supposed to be dilly-dallying in thoughts that don't concern you.'

_But it does concern you._

Playing mind games was extremely aggravating, and an overwhelming desire to slam his fist against the table came over him. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to do so when he heard a small beep in the stillness of the document room. He looked up and saw a small red light flashing – it was the fire alarm! Quickly he got up from his seat, replaced the documents in the box he took it from and walked towards the corridor to find a source of smoke.

Eventually he found it, slowly burning a cupboard of documents as the smoke triggered the alarms. The guard on duty found him. "Warn the rest of the building," he said.

"But Hiwatari-san..." said the middle-aged security guard.

"Just go!" Satoshi said. The surprised man merely nodded, before running towards the offices to trigger the main fire alarm. Looking left and right, he walked back to break the cupboard housing the fire extinguisher. Lifting the 9 kilogram metal cylinder filled with compressed powder, he went back to the fire and pulled off the safety pin before aiming the nozzle at the source of the fire.

With a squeeze of the handle, white foam burst out and smothered the fire, and Satoshi gritted his teeth in apprehension. His seemingly calm day had just turned a whole 180 degrees over.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Risa told Takeshi and his wife to go on without her after their lunch at a place not too far from the PD, since Miyu's office was a bit further up Azumano and she'd rather not be the reason for Miyu to be late for work – client or otherwise. Which was why she was surprised when she saw the office staff coming out from the building in a hurry, assembling themselves in disorganized groups at the still rather empty parking lot.

"Ayame-san?" asked Risa as she found and approached the accountant of her department. "What's going on? Why is everyone out here?"

"Oh, Risa-chan," said Ayame, looking distraught herself. "There's a fire in the documents room."

"A fire?" exclaimed Risa in surprise. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know. One minute I was typing away at the computer, and suddenly Watanabe-san – the guard of the documents room – suddenly burst into the office saying that a fire broke out and that we had to evacuate the building!"

Risa looked up at the smoke coming out from a window on the seventh floor. "It doesn't look like it'll put out anytime soon. Is the fire that bad?"

"I didn't see the fire. You can try asking him, he's over there."

Ayame pointed to the security guard, who was looking at the crowd nervously, as if trying to identify faces. Risa approached him, and the man politely bowed to her, of which she bowed back. "Watanabe-san?" she asked.

"Yes...that's me. And you are...?"

"Harada Risa," she said. "Ayame...I mean, Matsumoto-san, said that you saw the fire."

"Yes...I did. I was at my station when Hiwatari-san and I found the fire. He told me to go warn everyone but...it seems that he isn't here yet."

Risa felt her heart drop to her stomach. "Hiwatari-san? You mean, Hiwatari Satoshi?" she asked, just to be sure.

Watanabe nodded. "He could be still inside..." the man began, when Risa cut his sentence short as she started running back into the building, leaving him flabbergasted. "Harada-san!" he yelled after her.

She ignored him, as well as the rest of the people who saw her when she found an emergency exit and went inside, pushing against some people who were leaving the building by the same route. Ayame ran after her, but she was too late as the girl had disappeared behind a flight of stairs. She looked backwards, and saw a familiar face. Quickly she rushed to Hideo, who had just returned from his lunch break and had been briefed by the officers up front.

"Matsumoto-san?" he said, as she stopped in front of him, breathless. "Is everything okay?"

Ayame shook her head, pushing up her glasses with her hand before she stood up straight to look up at his tall self. "Risa-chan...Risa-chan she..." she said, still a bit shocked and out of breath.

"Risa-san?" asked Hideo, suddenly in panic at the state Ayame was in. "What happened to Risa-san?"

"She went inside the building! Suzuki-kun, you have to go after her!"

Hideo held her shoulders and nodded. "Stay here and inform the other guys. I'm going in. Which way did she go?"

"The emergency stairway," she said, before pointing to the door that he and Risa had used to come out from the building yesterday. Ayame bit her thumbnail nervously, watching as Hideo ran towards the direction Risa ran off to, praying that both of them would be okay. She had no idea that her boss was still inside the building.

_Risa-chan..._

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

She was running up the stairs like there was no tomorrow. Risa suddenly remembered why she hated exercising, but now hated the fact that she lacked the stamina that her older twin had. Climbing seven floors up by stairs was no easy feat, and she was doing so in her three-inch heels. With a groan she pulled the shoes off her feet and resumed her climb.

Her legs felt like breaking when she reached the seventh floor, one hand against the wall for support. Tears were already beginning to form in her eyes, worried for Satoshi's safety. She knew he had been in the office during lunch time – why didn't the thought cross her mind earlier – and she knew he was the type of person to try and do everything himself. He had been that way ever since she knew him in school, as much as she gathered from Daisuke's description of him after the climactic battle between Dark and Krad.

_And I haven't even told him..._

Risa shook the thought out of her head and pushed the fire barrier door open, and almost instantly she could smell the smoke. It wasn't pleasant. Quickly she reached for her pack of wet tissues (Risa was a lady through and through) and pulled out a few, stacking them and covering her nose and mouth with it as she made her way through the office. She had also decided to put her shoes back on before treading through.

Just as she was nearing the documents room, the glass bulb sprinkler system was activated by the amount of heat generated by the fire, dousing the entire area with water. The fires at some of the furniture and doors she passed by slowly began to subside, but she quickly hurried on to look for Satoshi. She went into the large documents room and coughed at the amount of smoke that was inside.

_Of all the times...why did he decide to become a hero now? Daisuke said they both lost their powers after that battle._

As she continued her arduous journey, complicated by falling structures – mainly book cupboards – her mind was brought back to the time when she was fourteen. She had been in love with Dark, and when she and Riku found out that Dark and Daisuke were basically the same person – she was torn apart. She loved Dark like a maiden in her first romance; but she loved Riku more and she knew how much her sister had liked Daisuke.

Watching the final battle from afar was excruciating. She had the sinking feeling in her stomach that in the event that both Dark and Daisuke triumphed over the mysterious blond-haired man (whom she later knew as Krad, Dark's arch nemesis), Daisuke would be the one who truly survived; Daisuke would live on and Dark would disappear forever. She couldn't bear the thought of losing him, so she held onto a little ray of hope that he would survive.

Unfortunately, like her doubt had predicted, Daisuke was the one who emerged – together with a slightly wounded Satoshi. At the time both sisters had a faint idea of what was going on, but Risa's worst fear was only reconfirmed when the three of them sat down together and Daisuke explained everything to them – including the fact that with the end of that battle, both Dark and Krad will never return to the Niwa or Hikari bloodlines.

She had grieved, like any other lover would, crying for hours on end and when her tear ducts were empty she would sit on her bed or balcony and brood; day and night. Riku had tried to talk some sense into her, and Daisuke tried once as well – until she had tossed the empty tissue box at him – accusing him to be the cause of Dark's death. She was fourteen, and highly emotional – and that was when her parents, worried about her health, decided to take her to counselling sessions with a psychologist.

Thankfully, she was nowhere near being insane, but she took a while to heal her wounds. Her counsellor was a kind young woman who seemed to understand her pain and sorrow, despite Risa being unable to delve into the details of the Niwa bloodline. Within a year she got over her loss of Dark and started her life anew together with her sister in Fukuoka. Despite the distance, Daisuke and Riku were able to keep in touch and even landed in the same university, where their real romance began, devoid of raging teenage hormones.

A crash startled Risa from her reverie (then again, only a woman like Harada Risa can be expected to daydream in the middle of chaos) and she turned to the sound. Wet, with dishevelled hair and coughing as he climbed his way out of the remains of some shelves and chairs, Satoshi looked up and his blue eyes went wide when he saw her standing a few feet in front of him.

"What the devil are you doing here?" he almost yelled, if it wasn't for the fact that the smoke was greatly irritating his throat and eyes. Risa hurried towards him and helped him up, and he pushed her hand away. "You idiot – you should be down at the parking lot with the rest!"

"So I can leave you here to die in your attempt to be a hero? Forget it!" she screamed back at him, before bursting into a violent fit of coughing. He patted her back, and she looked up at him. "I almost died when I heard you were inside here. You may be a Hikari...but your other half is no longer with you."

Satoshi looked at her, surprised. _Just exactly how much does she know about...the past?_

Putting that thought aside, he pulled his coat up to his mouth and nose as they exited the burning documents room. Just as they left, Risa gave into her exhaustion from all the running and smoke, and collapsed. Satoshi cursed inwardly and quickly checked her breathing and pulse. She was still alive, but he had to do something, or in that length of time exposed to smoke, she would suffer quite a lot.

He placed his hand an inch over her face and a bright white light radiated from his palm. After that, he quickly swept her into his arms in one fluid movement, and made his way towards the emergency exit. While he reached the exit, he saw Hideo, who immediately rushed to him.

"Risa-san! Commander, is she okay?" he asked.

"She's fine. Just help me carry her out of the building. We have to leave, now."

Hideo nodded and carried Risa in his arms before both the men hurried down the stairs. The detective was ahead of Satoshi, as he had to stop a few times to catch his breath; his chest feeling tight as they breathed in and out faster than he normally would. _Maybe I used too much power._

Ayame and Watanabe breathed out a sigh of relief as Hideo emerged from the stairway exit with Risa in his arms. The crowd gave them space for both of them, Hideo gently putting Risa down on the pavement. Satoshi came out shortly after in ragged breaths, his clothes and face dirty from soot and walking towards the cleared pavement space. He knelt before his hands were against the pavement, his hands feeling the rough surface. He coughed a few times, feeling pain in his chest and he turned to look at Risa one last time. Her chest rose and fell evenly like she was in a deep sleep, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

_You're wrong, Risa. That demon may no longer exist within me now, but I still am a Hikari._

Those were Satoshi's last thoughts before his world became dark.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_To be continued..._

A/n: Honestly, I think this didn't turn out the way I wanted it to be. I looked into the sprinkler system and hazards from smoke in general, so I hope I didn't disappoint, fact-wise. However, I can't say the same for the police department's system of storing documents. I just called it 'document room' as I assumed it's where they keep criminal records, not evidence (for that would be 'evidence room'?). Lots of speculations to make, but all will be explained (I hope) in the next chapter. I know that there are manga vs. anime differences, but I think if their curse ended, then both of them won't be able to appear in both bloodlines anymore. This is largely based on the anime series than the manga.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter (which may or may not be the last chapter, I'm not sure yet) will be out as soon as I can type it out from this lazy noggin of mine. Until next time!

I will also probably be re-doing the earlier chapters to my current style and to correct some mistakes (namely, Miyu being Saehara's wife).

**Review please? It would make me so very happy. Add suggestions for another fandom and pairing if you wish to!**


	8. Seasons Change

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer: DNAngel, its original story, the town of Azumano and its characters belong to Yukiru Sugisaki. I only own this fanfiction and the OCs in it.

Author's Note: The final chapters of Under One Roof are here! I'm very sorry to inform you that there won't be a sequel; however I think...or hope...this chapter and the epilogue should tie the whole story up quite nicely. Thank you so much for reading this fanfiction and being with me all these years (_years!_), and this actually makes the first completed multi-chaptered fic I have on .

Feel free to give any suggestions, any suggestions at all for what fandom to go for in my next fanfiction project. If you're shy, you can vote for it at my profile page. Thanks!

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_Days After: Seasons Change, Some Things Remain the Same_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The first feeling that came to Risa as she returned to consciousness was the dry sensation in her throat. Something soft and warm blanketed her, and she felt an odd numb sensation on the back of her left hand. Something was clipped onto her right index finger – although not as tightly as a clothespin. She also seemed to be breathing against a misty gust blowing against her nose and mouth. Her ears picked up voices, which became clearer as each second passed.

"Is she going to be okay, Doctor?" asked a concerned male voice. _I know that voice...'Doctor'? Am I in the hospital?_

"Frankly speaking, it's a miracle that she survived without injuring her lungs or airways. But we'd like to keep her here for another day perhaps, for observations."

"Of course," said another person in the room, this time female and had a voice a lot similar to hers. "Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome," said the doctor, before leaving the room. Risa groaned and her two visitors turned to her. She slowly opened her eyes, her pupils adjusting to the morning light, and the first person she saw was an almost mirror image of herself.

"Risa-chan..."

Her twin sister Riku looked at her and immediately smothered her in an embrace. "Oh my God, you're okay!" she exclaimed, before pulling back to take a good look at Risa's face. "Do you have any idea how worried Daisuke and I were?" she asked, her eyes getting teary.

"There, there, Riku..." Daisuke said with a sheepish smile.

Risa smiled. It was good to see her sister again, even if it was only a week since she left Fukuoka. She lifted her left hand and took off the breathing mask attached to her face, before taking in a deep breath. "Much better," she said with a raspy voice.

Daisuke went to her bedside and poured her a glass of water. "Here you go, Risa. You must be thirsty," he said. Riku wanted to help her drink the water, but Risa refused the offer. While downing the glass she took a good look at her sister and her soon-to-be brother-in-law. Although Riku was her identical twin, her hair was a more reddish shade of brown, and she was slightly more built since she took exercises seriously. Her hair was straight and now the same length as Risa's, which she kept up into a high ponytail with a yellow hair tie. She was wearing more girly clothes too; a simple yellow T-shirt with a pastel green spaghetti strap sundress over it, plus a pair of jeans.

She handed the empty glass back to Daisuke, who himself had grown to look more and more like his father. Although he retained his cute facial features inherited from his mother, he was a lot taller and leaner now; his red hair still dishevelled as ever. "The doctor says you're lucky," he said, before taking a seat on the chair by her bed. "According to the witnesses, you were in the building for some fifteen minutes, yet your lungs are clean."

Risa licked her dry lips briskly. She had a feeling that some of that luck may have been thanks to Satoshi being there.

"What were you thinking?" said Riku in a sudden outburst. "Running into a burning building? You haven't done anything that crazy since..." Riku stopped, wondering if she should say the phantom thief's name.

The younger twin nodded. "Since Dark, I know," she said. "I guess I wasn't thinking straight. I was just thinking of..." she paused. "...Hiwatari-kun, since a guard told me that he was still inside the building."

Daisuke and Riku looked at her in mild surprise. "Hiwatari-kun?" said Riku. "You mean to tell me you ran into a burning building because Hiwatari Satoshi was inside?"

Risa nodded slowly. "I'm sorry I worried both of you so much," she said apologetically. "Are Mom and Dad coming?"

"Yeah, they should be on their way from New York right about now. Hey, don't change the subject – you tried to save Hiwatari-kun, didn't you?"

"Don't push Risa so hard, she still not that well, you know," Daisuke interrupted.

"Whose side are you on?"

Risa sighed, not in a state to endure their lover's quarrel. "Is Hiwatari-kun in this hospital?" she asked.

Her twin nodded. "He's a few rooms down this one. Daisuke and I visited him for a while, but he was still unconscious. His mother...well, stepmother, was there though. She seemed like a nice lady."

"Yeah, who'd thought that Hiwatari-kun's father would get married?" said Daisuke; before they both chuckled, looking back on old memories.

Risa didn't realise she had breathed a sigh of relief. She would probably have to go and see him later, but until then, she would need some rest. Every part of her body just felt so fatigued. Eventually she let herself lean against the bed that had been raised to 45 degrees and listened to her twin sister and Daisuke talk about what she had missed while being in Azumano.

_Yet, why am I feeling so uneasy?_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Risa had insisted that Riku and Daisuke return to their hotel room when she felt a lot better after taking some food and more water, because both of them had been staying in the hospital to look after her the night before. Now she stood in front of a private ward door with a label 'Hiwatari Satoshi' written on it. She placed her hand over the handle of the door, contemplating on her action.

'If he's awake, just act natural. If he's asleep...then at least you know he's okay,' she thought to herself before pushing the handle down.

Risa's room had been decorated with flowers from some of her friends; like a bouquet of daises from Ayame – who said sorry for not realising she was going to be so heroic; a bouquet of irises from Hideo – who said she was still unconscious when he came to visit and that he couldn't really come see her because he's currently investigating the fire; and a mixed arrangement from the Saehara couple – who heard of the news (Takeshi was a reporter after all) and wished her get well soon. However, Satoshi's room was a lot emptier, and there was even a small stack of paper which obviously did not belong to the hospital sitting on top of the table.

He turned to look at her the moment she opened the door. "Glad to see you're up and about," he said nonchalantly, a few pieces of stapled paper in his right hand and his trademark glasses over the bridge of his nose.

Risa was flabbergasted. She didn't even have the time to process her thought before it flew out of her mouth. "You just survived coming through a burning building and the first thing you do when you're conscious is _work_?"

That comment took Satoshi by surprise. Certainly he didn't expect her to be _that_ energetic already, but perhaps he underestimated his own powers. "Then what do you expect me to do, Harada-san, just lie and do nothing while possibly some terrorist gets away with burning down part of a police department? I can't even begin to count the amount of documents we lost."

The brunette was not in the mood to argue with him, so she unceremoniously entered the room and took a seat on a chair next to his bed. Satoshi tried to withhold a smirk, but she noticed it and frowned. "What's so funny?" she demanded.

"You," he said, smirk growing wider. "I never imagined that I would see Harada Risa in a hospital gown."

"Only someone like you would find that funny," she said in return, before crossing her arms. He said nothing and returned to his work. After a few moments of silence she was compelled to ask a question. "So...do you have any leads yet?"

"No," Satoshi replied. "The fire apparently just started out of nowhere. There were no signs of anything unusual on the CCTV videos before the incident. We're going to have to look into this a bit more."

Risa nodded. "Oh, I see," she said, not believing what she was going to say next. "At any rate...I'm glad you're okay."

He turned his full attention to her, a bit surprised at what she just said. "I share your sentiments," he said. "I was...worried for you back there. What did the doctor say?"

"Oh," she mumbled, almost like in a daze when he told her he was _worried_ for her. "The doctor said I can go back home tomorrow. He's surprised that my lungs are clean and that I feel fine...like nothing ever happened."

Satoshi merely smiled a knowing smile as he turned back to his paperwork. "That's a miracle, then. You always seem to have luck on your side, Harada-san."

Risa bit her lower lip. True, there were incidents during her teenage years, specifically during her years in love with Dark that she would feel like luck indeed _was_ on her side. But she couldn't shake off the familiar feeling like the same thing years before had happened again. "What about you, Hiwatari-kun? When are you going to be discharged?"

"Unlike you, the doctors are keeping me a little longer since I was in the building for much longer than you have. Although they're surprised at my condition just as they're surprised at yours, I'm afraid my blood pressure's a little low. I'll probably be back in the office by Monday though."

Risa merely frowned. "I'll prepare a welcome party for you, then," she said sarcastically, when she suddenly remembered what she originally wanted to talk to him about before the fire began. "Hiwatari-kun..."

"Yes?" he asked, still reading the report.

"I was thinking of moving out of your apartment...this weekend. And uh...about the rent..."

Satoshi turned to her. "That isn't necessary. You only stayed for a week."

"But I feel bad if I didn't pay you something in return. I mean...you've been too much of a gracious host."

He pondered for a moment. "What about you cook me something again?"

She looked at him in horror more than surprise at his suggestion. "You're joking, right?"

"I'm quite serious," he replied. "Are you going to move in alone?"

"No...Riku and Daisuke are going to help me out. My parents are probably going to help out too. How about you come over and join the housewarming party? At least if Riku's helping me out with the cooking, I'd feel a little more confident feeding it to you."

Satoshi responded to this with a low chuckle. "If you're so insistent, I'll attend it. It would be nice to see your sister and Niwa-kun again. Plus, I've never met your parents before."

Her cheeks flared a little as she gave a nervous laugh herself. She could only imagine her parents' reaction to knowing that her _boss_ had saved her life; and that her mother would be delighted to know that her boss was also an ex-classmate, an eligible bachelor and very good-looking to boot. 'Wait, did I just say Hiwatari-kun is good-looking?' her mind screamed. 'Well, it's the truth...there's no harm in admitting that.'

"Then...I'll call you when we're done moving. It should probably be on Sunday evening though."

"Alright. You should get some rest," he suggested, placing the report on the top of the second stack of papers on the table. Risa nodded, rising from the seat and walking towards the doorway. "Oh, and Harada-san," he said, just as she opened the door.

She turned around and he smiled; a small – almost indistinguishable curve of his lips. "Thank you," he said. He didn't have to say more for her to catch his meaning.

"You're welcome," she said in return with a smile of her own, gracing her beautiful features. The door closed behind her, leaving Satoshi to anticipate his discharge on Sunday.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Riku was tying on the extra apron they had bought at the department store after Risa had packed what little stuff she had at Satoshi's apartment and made her way to her new place. Her parents had been with her since she was discharged from the hospital, together with Riku and Daisuke. They had bought furniture and all other necessary items needed for the move and once they were done with the move, Daisuke was taking a nap at the long couch in the living room while her parents had already returned to the hotel for a short nap while the two sisters got ready for the housewarming party.

"Hiwatari-kun is coming?" asked Riku. "I thought you only invited Saehara-kun and his wife."

"Is that weird?" Risa asked in return, trying to chop up some vegetables.

"Well...yeah. Mom and Dad don't know that you got into the fire because of Hiwatari-kun in the first place. Heck, I didn't even tell them that you stayed in his house for a week. I didn't think that staying together made you that close."

Risa blushed, a shade of pink matching the apron she was wearing. "I'm thankful that you didn't tell them that one important detail. Mom would have my head served for dinner if she knew."

"I'm not stupid, Risa. I'm your twin. Give me that, and watch closely," she said, taking the knife out of her twin's hands and demonstrating how to properly slice. "Tell me, what's your relationship with Hiwatari-kun?"

Risa, who initially was observing her sister's handiwork, blushed furiously before looking up to the pair of eyes identical to hers. "Riku!"

"What?" asked Riku, handing the knife back to Risa. "There's obviously something going on between you two. Don't even try to deny it, because you know very well that I know you better than anyone else."

Risa sighed as she continued the knife work. "If you want to know so badly," she began. "There is no relationship. Yeah, he's my boss and I'm his secretary. We've known each other in middle school, so I guess we're friends," she mumbled. Remembering how rashly she had acted when he missed half a day of work last Wednesday, she added, "Yeah, we're friends at the very most."

"Friends...hmm?" asked Riku with a raised eyebrow, boiling a pot full of water.

"Well, what do you expect? It's only been a week!" Risa replied exasperatedly.

Riku giggled a bubbly laughter that rang throughout the kitchen. "Okay, no need to get so defensive. Done with those? Okay, put them in here." Risa pushed the vegetables into the pot and the two sisters continued cooking for the housewarming party later that evening.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Satoshi who was just discharged was walking slowly through several aisles in a department store. He assumed that a good gift for a housewarming party would be an electrical appliance that she could probably use, which was why he was browsing through the store. However, in his cluttered mind of trying to solve the mystery of how the fire at the police department started, he didn't exactly have time to think of what to get her, specifically.

He had passed through some television sets, but he figured she would have already bought one when she moved in. Obviously she would already buy a vacuum cleaner since she would need to clean her house, he mused as he walked on; and she probably would have an iron with her since she stayed in his house otherwise there was no way her clothes would be so pressed. Satoshi passed by larger appliances like the washing machine and the refrigerator and eventually ended up in an aisle with kitchen appliances.

Certainly, she could use an appliance to help her with cooking, but which one should he get? He stopped in his tracks when he saw the perfect gift for her. Satoshi picked it up from the shelf and examined it, smiling to himself like a fool.

_This is just too much like you._

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Night fell over Azumano, and the Saehara couple as well as Risa's parents arrived at their house at 7 p.m. The party was small, and the guests sat around a rectangular table as Riku and Risa began serving the party food after some brief introductions. Daisuke grinned as he finished swallowing a piece of sushi. "Hey, this is really good," he said. Riku smiled back at him before looking at Risa.

"Take your compliments to the chef then, she's right over there," said the red-haired twin.

Risa blushed. "You made this?" asked her mother, who looked like an older version of the twins with long brown hair tied into a pretty braid. Her dark eyes gleamed with pride as she hugged her youngest daughter. "And here I thought you weren't interested in cooking."

"Well, I'm living alone now, Mom. I can't always eat out, and I don't have a butler anymore," she said honestly.

This only made her mother hug her even tighter. "Oh, my Risa is growing up so fast, isn't that right, dear?"

Her father merely nodded with a low chuckle. He was a middle-aged, rather plump man with short greying hair, hazel eyes and a friendly face. "You're embarrassing her in front of her friends," he said. "Look at how red her face is."

Daisuke, Riku, Takeshi and Miyu all laughed, which made Risa more furious than she was flustered. Her mother let go of her, and subsequently the doorbell rang. "I'll get that," she said quickly, leaving the rest to enjoy the food. She swiftly took off her apron and placed it on the kitchen counter before rushing to the door.

When the door opened, she stood right in front of Satoshi who was dressed in a casual dark blue Polo tee and khaki slacks with a wrapped up box in one hand and a long box of wine in the other. "Sorry I'm late," he said after a few moments. "I had some work to do."

Risa was searching for her voice to reply. "Oh...that's okay. Come in," she said eventually, giving him some space to enter.

"Here, this is for you," he said, handing her the wrapped-up box. "And I thought we could use a bit of wine for the party. I hope you have wine glasses."

She couldn't conceal her grin. "I had a feeling you were going to bring wine, so I bought them beforehand," she said. "Thank you, for the presents."

"You're welcome," he said, before she turned around to put the present on a table in the living room. She then led him to the dining area, where everyone stopped talking and turned to look at them the moment they entered.

'Great, everyone, you're really helping with the awkward atmosphere,' Risa thought. The first to break the silence was Takeshi, who stood up and approached his long time friend.

"Hey, Hiwatari-kun," he said, shaking hands with Satoshi. "I thought you weren't going to show up. Is being late really that fashionable?"

He expected Satoshi to glare at him before ignoring him completely, but Takeshi was surprised when there was a small smirk on his lips, followed by a shrug. "It's good to see you too, Saehara-kun. I see you've brought your wife as well."

"Hiwatari-kun, meet my parents, Reiko and Kenji," said Risa. "And I presume you already know Daisuke and Riku. Mom, Dad...this is Hiwatari Satoshi, my boss."

Satoshi gave a polite bow to her parents before shaking hands with them. "Pleased to meet you, Hiwatari-kun," said Kenji. "So you've known my daughters since middle school in Azumano?"

"Indeed," he said, taking a seat between Reiko and an empty chair.

Reiko smiled at him. "I hope Risa-chan hasn't been giving you any trouble at work," she said.

"Oh no, not at all. She does her work perfectly fine," he replied, which earned snickering from Riku and Takeshi. Risa heard it but ignored it and took the only seat left, which was beside Satoshi.

The little party went on without a hitch, and after dinner Risa's parents left for the hotel because they had to catch an early flight the next day. Riku knew that her parents wanted to give them young adults some time to themselves. "I admit," said Daisuke. "It's a little awkward meeting again ever since we last saw each other in high school."

"That's true," said Satoshi. Although he was once rivals with Daisuke a long time ago, after everything ended he couldn't really consider him a close friend, but he at least was someone he could definitely trust. "Let's just leave the past behind us, shall we?" he said. Takeshi joined in their conversation with several cans of beers in his arm and soon the three of them kicked off into a talk of their own.

Towards ten p.m., the Saehara couple left because their house was quite a ways from Risa's apartment and because Miyu was already a few weeks pregnant (Takeshi insisted that she go home and rest). While the two sisters wiped the dishes dry, the other two men decided to watch television. Satoshi was mindlessly flipping through channels after Daisuke handed him the remote, and he didn't notice the redhead falling asleep on the couch.

"What are you guys watching?" asked Riku, coming from behind them. She turned to look at Daisuke who was leaning against the back of the couch. "Wow, he must be really tired."

"You should probably take him to bed," said Satoshi, looking up at her.

"Alright. But I think I'll get some shut eye myself as well," she replied. Shaking Daisuke's shoulders gently, she managed to stir her fiancé from his slumber. "Daisuke, if you're going to sleep, sleep inside, hmm?"

Daisuke rubbed his eyes and grinned before turning to Satoshi. "Sorry, I didn't think I was this tired," he said apologetically. "I'll see you some other time, then?"

"Alright," said Satoshi with a nod. The two bid him goodnight and they were walking towards Risa's guest room when Risa was just about to come into the living room with a tray of sliced chiffon cake. She looked at her sister with widened eyes.

"Wh...where are you two going?" she asked.

"We're going to bed," said Riku. "Daisuke's pretty tired, so we're going to go on ahead. Goodnight, Risa," she ended with a wink.

Risa bit her lower lip as her sister proceeded towards the guest room. With a sigh, she realised that her gut feeling had been right all along – somehow during this gathering she was going to end up being alone with Satoshi. 'Emphasis on the word _alone_,' she thought angrily. He was still flipping through channels when she came, and he stopped when she set the tray down on the coffee table.

"I didn't put any whipped cream since I know you wouldn't like it," she mumbled as she cut a slice and set it on a small plate before setting it on the table near Satoshi.

Satoshi leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. "That's rather...thoughtful of you," he said.

"And I'm sorry it's not really much of a party. Because to me, my home is a sanctuary of sorts, so my parties are usually kinda intimate."

"It's alright, I prefer smaller parties," he said, speaking from experience. "But that's odd, coming from you. Weren't you throwing birthday parties and inviting the whole class over back when we were in middle school?"

"I was young," she said with a tinge of pink on her cheeks as Satoshi picked up the cake to have a bite with the small fork she placed beside it. "And most of the rooms in our mansion back then were specifically used for parties. Riku and I are my parents' only children, so it's kinda natural that they insist on such a big bash. But on a plus side, we got plenty of presents back then."

"Speaking of presents, why don't you open mine?" he asked, looking at the box sitting in the middle of the coffee table.

Risa looked at him with a raised eyebrow, curious. "Okay, if you say so."

She took the box and carefully removed the wrapper. The moment the present was revealed through the illustration on the store-bought appliance on the box, she gave out a laugh and opened it, pulling out a pink-coloured toaster with a smiling face on both sides. "This is so cute! And so unlike you to buy for me!" she said as she looked at it at different angles. She turned to the box to read its features. "Oh, it toasts bread with this smiley face pattern too!"

"I'm glad you like it," said Satoshi. "After all, you toast bread horribly. Wouldn't want you to get constipated because of breakfast."

Risa looked at him with a pout. "Ha ha, very funny. But thank you, it's a wonderful gift."

An awkward silence fell over them as Risa helped herself to a slice of cake. She set the plate aside when she was done with the first serving. Her hands itching for another slice, she sighed before mumbling, "At this rate, I would probably need a treadmill in the house too."

Satoshi chuckled. "Ah, so now I know your secret," he teased. "You didn't like exercise as much as your sister does back then, did you?"

"I still don't like it, but I have to compromise. Don't give me that look – it's not like you've never been to the gym before," she said spontaneously, before she gasped and covered her mouth when she realised what she had just said. 'Stupid, stupid me!' she chided herself.

His chuckled evolved into a full-blown laughter. "I like your honesty, Harada-san," he said when he finally caught his breath. "You know, it's been a long time since someone acted so casually with me. I'd never thought I'd say this, but I am going to miss your company in my house."

Risa felt blood rushing from cheeks all the way to the tip of her ears. 'Did he just mean what I think he meant? No, he's probably just being friendly,' she reassured herself. "Well, I am still going to be outside your office door – eight to five, Mondays to Saturdays – when you need me."

"What about Sundays?" he asked with a smirk.

"Then..." she began, almost stammering as she avoided his eyes. "Just give me a call."

He chuckled again. "I was joking, Harada-san. But I wouldn't mind meeting on Sundays. After all, you know firsthand how 'exciting' my life can be."

She smiled. "I'll have to check my schedule and yours as well; because we're such busy people," she said finally, before they both burst into laughter. Satoshi watched as she held one hand over her chest to steady herself, a bright smile on her face and he knew Takeshi was right – where was he when Takeshi and Daisuke were already in such bliss?

He briefly looked at his watch. "How time flies," he said, as it was already half past ten. "I think I should leave now. Don't want to be late for work."

Risa nodded and walked him to the door, where as he was putting on his shoes she stood at the foyer. He stood up straight and looked directly into her eyes, which gave her a jolt up her spine. "Good night, Harada-san; and thank you, I had a good time," he said softly.

"You're welcome," she replied with a somewhat breathless voice. She could feel that she was falling for him, but it was too late to turn back – she was in too deep already. "Good night, Hiwatari-kun. Have a safe trip home."

He nodded and smiled – just a small curve of his lips – before disappearing behind her door. Once the door was closed Risa subconsciously breathed out a sigh, a hand over her heart. 'Be still,' she told her thumping heart. 'You'll see him tomorrow.'

On the other end of the door, Satoshi looked over the corridor balcony overlooking the streets of the neighbourhood. His left hand still passively on the handle, he let it slip and limp by his side; the smile still on his lips. Looking at the police station that could still be seen in the distance, he had to set his mind at ease as well.

_Well, at least going to the office would not be such a stressful part of the day now._

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Ayame, being the perceptive woman she was – first noticed the subtle changes in Satoshi and Risa's relationship long before office rumours began flying around. She first suspected something when the girl had run into the burning building just to find him. Sure, many women in the police department had a thing for her boss, but Risa was different. It was as if she knew him inside and out; and one lunch date with Risa partly confirmed her story.

"We were classmates in middle school," Risa had said. "But that's all! I mean, he wasn't exactly a people person back then."

The hesitation, the need to create excuses for things she knew about him – it just smelt too fishy for Ayame. Several times, especially when the rainy season began; she would sometimes offer Risa her spare umbrella but the girl would decline as she sorted out her overtime work. Ayame later discovered why when she finished her financial report for Satoshi to sign one day after a bit of overtime and he was inside his office playing _Solitaire_ on his computer when she came in.

"That's odd, boss," she had casually said after he signed the report. "Are you done with work?"

"Yes," he had replied. Since they had found out the cause of the fire – which was a cigarette that had not been put out properly when an officer was ditching work at the documents room – he had a little less burden at the office. "I'm...waiting for the rain to stop."

The hesitation, once again – she noticed. She went to the guard to ask for details, and sure enough – Satoshi and Risa had been leaving the office together several times already, especially when it rained. It wasn't long before other people started noticing this, and Ayame felt sorry for the poor lad Hideo; who had a crush on Risa. "It's okay, Matsumoto-san," he had said one awkward elevator ride down to the parking lot. "As long as she's happy, that's enough for me."

And of course, it only got even more obvious when Risa asked her a seemingly innocent question when they both stayed back at the office with their packed bento lunches.

"Ayame-san," she began. "How did you and your husband meet?"

"Oh?" Ayame said, opening her bento. "Why the sudden question?"

"Because..." said Risa with uncertainty. "I'm just curious."

It wasn't until mid-summer that the gears were really put into motion. Ayame's ears perked up when, at a time where things in the department slowed down – specifically Saturday afternoon at 4:55 p.m. – that Risa's intercom beeped. She picked up the phone and the older women intentionally eavesdropped as she packed her handbag. "Okay," was the only thing Risa said before she stood up and walked to Satoshi's office, closing the door behind her.

"Have a seat," he said when she came in. Risa found this rather odd, but she did as she was told and took a seat across him.

Satoshi clicked the 'shut down' icon on his computer and turned his full attention to Risa. He appeared to look a little unlike himself, she noticed, but he took a deep breath and said what was on his mind anyway. "Harada-san, I'm not good in being subtle, unless it's sarcasm, so I'll just get straight to the point," he said, which really concerned her then as it was really unlike him. "Do you have any plans this evening?" he asked with a serious expression.

"N...no," she replied. She was thinking of heading back home to catch a good romance movie on the DVD she just bought along with a small tub of ice-cream. Assuming that he wanted her to do overtime, her heart sank into her stomach. 'So much for my heavenly tub of Haagen-Dazs.'

"Oh," he said, and he looked relieved. "In that case...do you want to go out to dinner with me?"

Risa blinked. Did he just say what she thought he said? Did she even hear it properly? "Pardon me?" she asked.

"I'm asking you out to dinner," he said.

She blinked a few more times. "Dinner? Like...as in...a date?" she asked rather stupidly.

"Yes, that's what I just said."

Risa didn't know whether to scream or faint right then and there. Fighting the urge to do either, she felt her heart rate rising rapidly as she smiled and nodded. "Yes, I...I'd love to!" she almost squeaked out. Sure, she had been on plenty of dates in university, but she did not anticipate a date as much as this one. Plus, he had asked her out of the blue!

"Great...then, I'll pick you up at half past seven?" he asked with a grin, looking very relieved and elated himself.

"O...okay," she said. "Where are we dining, by the way?"

"Frangipani," he replied. He didn't feel the need to explain when he saw her gasp. "So I take it you know the place."

Her eyes were widened before she nodded. She had never eaten there before because the French restaurant only opened a year before she returned to Azumano. Plus, Miyu and a bunch of the other female colleagues she frequently go to lunch with told her about the place, who gossiped about how they served incredible food, the romantic ambience and was rather pricey – but most of all they gushed about how it was situated on the hill overlooking the entire city which you could see through glass windows. Risa had to admit, Azumano was a very charming, romantic city.

"I'll take you home," he said, startling her out of her train of thoughts.

"Okay, give me a minute," she said, before rushing back out. Ayame knew something good happened when Risa came out of the office with a dazzling smile.

Leaning against her desk as the clock struck five, Ayame smirked. "So, what's got you smiling like a 100-watt bulb?"

Risa was so excited to tell someone that she couldn't care anymore. She beckoned Ayame to lean closer so she could whisper into her ear. A few seconds later, Ayame felt her inner teenager being reborn. "He did?" she said out loud, when Risa hushed her as some of the leaving employees turned to look at them. She lowered her voice and asked, "Where?"

"Frangipani! Can you believe it? I haven't done fine dining since...I don't know, my graduation dinner with my family! But none of the guys I've ever dated asked me out to such a fancy place...oh wow, what am I going to wear?"

"Although I am jealous of you, Risa-chan; I think it's a bit unfair that the dinner is today. Otherwise you'd have time to buy a bombshell of a dress."

Risa giggled. "Don't worry, I have all my clothes from Fukuoka now," she said, and she quickly turned around when she heard Satoshi's office door open. He turned to look at the two ladies.

"Ready to go?" he asked, face still a little flushed but it was obvious to Ayame that he was trying to keep his cool.

"Yes," Risa replied, before walking with him. Ayame managed to tug on her sleeve once and winked at Risa, mouthing 'Have fun,' silently as they walked towards the exit. Slinging her handbag on one shoulder, she smiled before exiting the department herself.

_They look so perfect for each other. I'm glad he's finally found someone after all this time._

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Dressed in a dashing black formal suit, with a diagonally striped dark blue and grey necktie plus golden cufflinks, he was looking very out of place standing in front of Risa's apartment door, his Toyota Vios parked downstairs and ready to take them to the restaurant. It was not only because he was dressed so properly, but also because it was a rather warm summer night. He hoped he had put on enough cologne at one point – which made him felt silly afterwards for thinking such a thought.

He rang the doorbell and waited. Okay, so he had been on dates before – most of which was thanks to his mother's interference – but none of them felt as unnerving as this one. He was holding tightly onto the bouquet of flowers he bought on his way to her house (his outfit served to make the florist gush) until the stalks of said flowers could have been choked if the door hadn't swung open.

Standing before him was Risa, wearing a spaghetti-strap peach-coloured gown with a cute blush on her cheeks and her freshly curled locks tousled all over her back. She also had pretty flower hairpins in her hair, as she tied some of them back and clipped them there. Her dress was made out of satin, and it was ruffled, even all the way down to where it stopped mid-calf on her front, but trailed to her ankles on the back. She had a pearl necklace around her neck, one pearl bracelet on her right hand with a matching clutch purse on her left hand. Around her arms was a white scarf to keep her shoulders warm from the wind.

It took Satoshi five seconds to finally find his missing voice. "These are for you," he said, handing her the bouquet. Risa blushed at the sight of the flowers as she accepted it. There were lilies, roses, jasmines and even lavender arranged nicely to create the wonderful arrangement that she held in her hands.

"They're lovely," she said, before giving them a sniff. "Thank you."

"Not as lovely as you are," he complimented, which made her redden more. "Shall we?"

"Okay," she said. "Let me just...put these inside."

After placing them in a vase Riku had told her to prepare earlier after Risa had dished out all the details to her sister as soon as she got home, she followed Satoshi to the parking lot. He was even polite enough to open the door for her (which he had been doing ever since he started sending her home quite often). The car trip to the restaurant went on with an awkward silence. The situation was made worse when Satoshi turned on the radio and only romantic songs were playing. It was as if the DJ knew that they were on their first real 'date'.

Once they were in the restaurant, the valet parked Satoshi's car and the maître d' showed them to their table, which overlooked the entire city from its large glass-panel windows. After they ordered their food and settled in the ambience of the restaurant nicely, the two could finally ease up a little and started talking.

"This place is better than what I expected," said Risa while they were waiting for their order. "Though I had to admit, when you asked me out, I sort of predicted that you were going to take me to a place like this."

"What can I say, I have good taste," he replied, which made her giggle.

The rest of the dinner continued with light conversation and fine dining. Risa was delighted at the food – it tasted just as good as the rumours had her believe. After Satoshi paid the bills and they left the restaurant, Risa turned to him when he suddenly turned down the volume of the radio.

"Do you want to come over to my house? We could have some wine and...talk."

Risa noticed that he didn't have any alcohol during the course of their dinner since he was driving. "Sure," she said. "It's still early anyway."

The car drove on towards Satoshi's apartment, and Risa smiled at the familiar feeling of taking the elevator up to his place. He opened the door and they took off their shoes at the foyer. "Make yourself at home," he said, taking off his coat and placing it at the coat rack. "It's not like you don't know how to."

Risa giggled. "Alright," she said, taking a seat at the couch. Looking around, she realised how much memories were made during her one week stay at his home. 'And things got comparatively boring after I left,' she mused.

Satoshi returned with two glasses of champagne and he handed one to her. She thanked him and he sat down beside her. "You know what, Hiwatari-kun? It's kind of funny for me to say this, but I miss your house."

"And why is that?" he asked.

Risa took a sip as she gathered her thoughts. "Well, it's because you have a nice house. The ambience is very...cosy. Oh, and the view from your living room balcony!" she said, suddenly remembering. She stood up and made her way to the balcony, sliding the glass door open and stepping outside. Leaning against the railing, she let the wind play with her hair as she looked at the buildings and streets below her, lit up like a wonderland.

He joined her at the balcony, standing right beside her. "Is that all you miss about my house?"

"N...no," she stammered. "I miss cooking in your kitchen, too."

Satoshi looked a little upset. "That's all? I must say, I am rather disappointed."

"Alright, alright," she said in defeat, her cheeks reddening. "I miss you too. Having you as a housemate was...interesting to say the least."

He smiled in triumph and took a sip of his own champagne. They admired the scenery for a bit, before Satoshi spoke up. "I'm going to let you in on a little information, Harada-san," he said. "I have a theory, and I've been thinking about it since middle school."

"A...theory?" she asked, curious. "Go on, I'm listening."

"Did Niwa-kun tell you about what a Sacred Maiden is?" he asked, his blue eyes staring at her.

Risa nodded. "Yes. He said that the Sacred Maiden is the girl who triggers his change into Dark; mainly because of his feelings of love or affection for the girl. He told me that I was his Sacred Maiden first, and later when he fell in love with my sister, it was my sister who triggered the change, not me – even if we looked alike."

His eyes turned cold as he remembered a terrible memory. "Did you know that transforming into our other half without the use of a Sacred Maiden is very painful?"

Risa blinked. "N...no...Daisuke never told me that," she said as he turned to look at the scenery again. "Was that why you..."

"Yes," he replied, referring to the time she once saw him transform into Krad. "I...can't even begin to describe the pain."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry, Hiwatari-kun..." she began, shivering slightly as she remembered his scream from back then.

"You have nothing to apologize for. In fact, after that incident...there were a few times where transforming into him didn't hurt at all. I could only conclude that it was because I found a Sacred Maiden," he said, remembering his desire to keep her safe above all else during this war between the two families. He turned to her. "Risa...I think you're my Sacred Maiden."

Risa felt herself shudder in the night, not only because of the wind that blew by, but also by his words. "And I was a fool to not realise that my feelings for you had existed since back then," he continued. "I...I love you, Harada Risa...and I want you to know that my feelings for you are sincere."

She was left speechless, her words stuck in her throat as she couldn't tear her eyes from his azure blue gaze. "Hiwatari-kun..." she mumbled.

"Please...just call me Satoshi," he said. "We are way too close now to be calling each other with such formality."

She set her champagne glass on the railing of the balcony and she closed her eyes as she couldn't resist the attraction between them. Her hands instinctively reached for his glasses and slid it off. She felt the blood rushing to her face as she felt his hands on her arms, as if to protect her from the cold. She felt him leaning closer towards her, and it wasn't long until she felt his lips over hers.

It was a long time since she had been kissed – but no words could ever describe the sensation that flooded her like a tidal wave when their lips came into contact. Her breath stopped in her throat, as his mouth covered hers, kissing her like only a man could. Her chest was filled with the feeling like she was about to explode, and her hands responded by circling around the back of his neck.

They broke off the kiss to catch their breath, and Risa looked up at him breathlessly. "You're not the only fool," she mumbled, her hazel eyes glimmering with the moon's reflection. "Because I love you too, Satoshi," she said, before she began to giggle.

Her infectious laughter caught on to him as he began to chuckle as well. He gently pressed his lips against her forehead. "You don't know how relieving it is to hear you say that."

"Don't tell me...you were so anxious today because you planned to confess?" she asked.

"Well...yes. That and even though I noticed that we were getting closer, nothing felt definite until I heard it from your mouth."

Risa giggled again. "Oh, and the great Hiwatari Satoshi cowers before a woman."

"A very special woman," he added. Risa smiled as turned to the scenery before her and leaned against his shoulder. She didn't think she would feel this happy – and frankly neither did Satoshi. All of the haunting words from Krad – or rather, his subconscious – about how he was going to end up alone slowly disappeared with the presence of Risa in his life. She had made his life complete by showing him that the world is not entirely cold and cruel.

Risa looked down at his glasses folded in her hands. He had taught her so much, and he showed her that people can change. "Who would've thought?" she began. "If the people in our old class saw us together, they'd be in for a surprise. The super-genius and the popular girl...what an odd pair."

"I think Saehara-kun, your sister and Niwa-kun would be fine with it, though."

"I guess you're right."

She snuggled against him, her nose taking in his scent. "Satoshi-kun?" she began.

"Yes, Risa-san?"

"Does this mean I'll have to quit my job or move into another department?"

Satoshi laughed and continued drinking his champagne. "We'll work it out as we go along, okay?"

Risa merely nodded – because after all, he was right. They had all the time in the world, and this was only the beginning.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_THE END_

A/n: I feel like it's a rush job. :P. Stay tuned for the **epilogue**! As a side note: Frangipani I just googled 'French restaurant' and the first result I got was 'Frangipani'. See how lazy I am?


	9. Under One Roof, Once Again

**Under One Roof**

By Chiharu Tanaka

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Disclaimer: DNAngel, its original story, the town of Azumano and its characters belong to Yukiru Sugisaki. I only own this fanfiction and the OCs in it.

Author's Note: The epilogue! I'm sorry the previous chapter seemed hurried/choppy, but this story is 'the beginning' of their relationship. I admit; I'm losing my touch in romance fanfiction over time. Anyway, I'll do my best to improve my writing in fanfictions to come!

Lastly, a great big **THANK YOU** to everyone out there who read, reviewed and supported me throughout the completion of this fanfiction!

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_Epilogue: Under One Roof, Once Again_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Dear, we're going to be late!"

A 27 year-old man with red hair came out of the front doors with a young toddler with a matching shade of crimson in his arms. "Riku, it's still nine thirty. We'll make it," said Daisuke, now married and a father of one, handing his 1 year-old son Daiichi to his wife.

Riku frowned at her husband before smiling as she cooed at her adorable son. "Alright, whatever you say. C'mon."

The family of three got into the sedan car and Daisuke started the engine. Cruising out of porch of their house, they made their way towards their destination – a street in southeast Azumano. After Daisuke decided to start his own company a little over a year ago and Riku was transferred there as well, the two decided to move back to Azumano for good – at least that way they were closer to the Niwa family.

Takeshi had finally been promoted to be an editor of a column of the newspaper – mainly the local section since that was his forte. His wife was actively making sales in doing real estate, and she was busy because Azumano had a lot of beautiful houses to offer to the rich as second homes. They had a daughter of their own, who was about a year older than Daiichi. "I hope she takes after her mother," Riku had said once, to Takeshi's dismay.

"We're here," said Daisuke. They got out of the car and walked past the moving truck to marvel at the new house.

It was a double-storey house, with a garden at the front and an outdoor balcony on the second floor. The house was painted white and light grey on some walls, and was of a very modern design with its large glass windows and wooden frames. The three members of the Niwa family stood at the foyer. "Is anyone home?" Riku yelled, and a few seconds later, Risa came running towards them, her feet thumping against the wood-panelled floors.

"Daisuke! Riku! And Daiichi-chan!" she exclaimed happily, clasping her hands together, a diamond wedding ring on her left ring finger. "Come on in, but watch out, there are still a lot of unopened boxes."

They went inside the house, and sure enough, there were piles of boxes still stacked up on each other. Some furniture had already been arranged, namely the 3-piece chic black sofa set in the living room. "Have a seat," said Risa. "Can I get you anything? All I have right now is coffee or water, I'm afraid."

Riku smiled. "We brought food for all of us. I had a feeling you'd have your hands full, so Daisuke and I made lunch."

The younger Harada twin exhaled a sigh. "Oh my God, thank you," she said exasperatedly. "I'm exhausted at carrying all these boxes over from my old place."

"But you have to admit, this is a pretty nice place," said Daisuke. "By the way, where's..." he began, but was cut short when he saw a familiar figure coming into the living room with two movers who were carrying a refrigerator.

"Put it at the kitchen, at the corner. Thanks," he said, before turning to see Daisuke and his family. "Oh, you're here."

Risa placed her hands on her hips. "Satoshi, you could do better than that."

Satoshi walked over to the family of three with a poker-faced expression. "I'm sorry the house is a mess. But we should be done soon."

In the meantime, Risa had sat next to her sister and began playing with the baby. "No problem, Hiwatari-kun," said Daisuke. "We brought lunch for all of us, since we thought you'd be busy."

"Thanks. Oh, and Risa, how are we going to arrange the dining room?"

"I'll think about it later."

"What are you talking about, the movers are leaving soon," said Satoshi, frowning.

Risa turned her attention away from Daiichi and looked up at her husband. "It's not like we can't arrange things ourselves!"

Riku frowned and decided to intervene. "Please don't fight...at least not in front of Daiichi. Besides, we can help."

Risa crossed her arms and gave an indignant 'humph' while Satoshi readjusted his glasses and went back to the movers. Daisuke merely sighed and shook his head. "Risa...you do know that it's going to get worse once you guys have a baby, right?"

A gulp. "A...baby?" she repeated.

"We gave mom a grandson, and now she's expecting a granddaughter from you," said Riku. "Now kiss and make-up with your husband before things gets worse."

Risa sighed. "Alright," she said, standing up from the couch and walking towards the dining room. She approached Satoshi and hugged him from behind. "I'm sorry," she said, her cheek nuzzling against the fabric of his shirt.

"Are you going to arrange the dining room now?" he asked.

She let go of him and turned to look at him. "Are you going to accept my apology?"

He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Apology accepted. Now work that interior designer in you, we have an hour left."

Risa giggled and turned to look at the room. Moving into his house was one thing, moving into her house was another – but this was _their_ house, and they were going to share a wonderful life together, under one roof. "Okay, then," she said, rolling up her sleeves. "Let's get to work."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_THE END_

A/n: It's an epilogue, so I didn't want it to be so heavy. So the tale ends here! I will revise the earlier chapters at a later date. Remember to vote for which fandom I should go for next in the poll at my profile page! Once more, thank you for reading!


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